HC to rescue mob victims

HC to rescue mob victims

JUSTICE FOR INNOCENCE

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, June 19: The Gauhati High Court on Tuesday asked the Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted by the State government to probe the recent lynching of Nilotpal Das and Abhijeet Nath at Panjuri under Dokmoka police station in Karbi Anglong district, to complete its investigation at the earliest and file charge sheets against the accused without any delay.

The high court said filing of charge sheets in the case without delay will be crucial for expeditious trial of the wrongdoers by a Fast Track Court.

A division bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice Ajit Singh and Justice Mir Alfaz Ali gave its directives on Tuesday while hearing the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the lynching incident. The high court last week also took a suo motu cognizance of the incident. On Monday, the court clubbed the PIL and suo motu case for hearing.

During the hearing, the high court had also asked the State Government to furnish details about its initiatives taken to prevent such lynching incidents in future in Karbi Anglong district for the sake of tourists and nature lovers. The court questioned as to why the State government is silent on steps to prevent incidents like Jhankar Saikia, an undergraduate student of Diphu College who was lynched by a mob on June 25 in 2013 after he refused to pay extra money to an auto driver.

The fathers of Abhjieet Nath and Nilotpal Das on Monday evening met Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal at his office at Janata Bhawan and put forward their suggestions and opinions for awarding maximum punishment to the culprits.

Sonowal assured them that all measures have been taken so that culprits receive maximum punishment accorded for the crime and no loopholes will be left in the investigation for the perpetrators to escape as the SIT under a DSP has already been constituted for the case. Because of the swift action of the Assam Police, almost all the accused are nabbed in a short period of time, and subsequently, the Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court would be requested to put the trial in a Fast Track Court for speedy justice delivery, Sonowal said. Sonowal, who is personally monitoring the progress of the case as the crime has tarnished the image of the State, also directed the police for consulting an expert criminal lawyer while preparing the charge sheet of the case so that technical loopholes do not remain through which the criminals can escape.

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