Assam: 16 years after Jogdal murders, local organisation seeks NHRC's intervention for justice
GUWAHATI: Sixteen years after six members of a family were hacked to death in their house in Jogdal village in Assam's Kamrup Metropolitan district, a local organisation has approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for justice for the victims. It has urged the NHRC to take cognisance of human rights violations in the case and intervene to ensure a fair, independent and time-bound investigation. On the night of December 12, 2009, unidentified assailants had brutally killed Harakanta Doloi, his wife Swapna, their three children and a nephew at their Jogdal residence. The killings were suspected to have been linked to political leaders who used their influence to acquire land in the area to build a luxury hotel. The perpetrators have still not been brought to book. The Dimoria Bikash Manch urged NHRC chairman Justice V R Rama Subramanian to look into the case. Chief advisor of the Manch, Dibyajyoti Medhi, who submitted the petition on Saturday, said, We met a member of the panel and handed our petition. He has assured us of looking into the case. It has been 16 years but justice has not been done yet. But, we are still hopeful that the NHRC will be able to get justice for the victims. Doloi was a marginal cultivator, and the family was economically impoverished, with no known enmity with any individual or group, he said. The petition maintained that he investigation was deliberately weakened due to the suspected involvement of a then minister of the Assam government. The Congress was leading the government in Assam in 2009. The initial investigation conducted by Sonapur Police was allegedly neither impartial nor diligent. On the contrary, serious attempts were reportedly made to destroy crucial evidence, including the burning of the victim's house after the incident, it said. It further said that a prime accused, Arjun Bordoloi, was killed under mysterious circumstances on September 5, 2012, raising further concerns regarding the integrity of the investigation. Subsequently, the case was transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and on December 7, 2017, two police officers -- Pranab Kumar Deka, the then officer-in-charge of Sonapur police station, and A M Choudhury, the then investigating officer of the case -- were arrested on charges of deliberately destroying evidence with the intention of shielding the actual perpetrators. The case was handed over to the CBI a year later by the state government. Despite sustained protests and representations submitted by numerous local ethnic and social organisations over the years, the authorities concerned have remained largely unresponsive, the Manch alleged. ...it is humbly prayed that your esteemed office may kindly take cognisance of the grave human rights violations involved in this case and intervene appropriately to ensure a fair, independent, and time-bound process leading to justice for the victims, the petition said. All responsible for the crime as well as for the obstruction of justice be brought to book in accordance with the law, it added.
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