DIPHU, Feb 28 - Seven years after Jhankar Saikia, a college student, was lynched in front of his father and half-a-dozen armed police personnel in Diphu town in front of the police station, the Diphu District court today awarded life term imprisonment to 12 people who were found guilty for the offence. The court of Karbi Anglong District and Sessions Judge AU Ahmed pronounced its judgment on the mob lynching case.
�The accused persons Robinson Teron, Biswajit Hanse, Sarsing Teron, Sanjoy Rongphar, Bikram Tisso, Junsing Teron, Binong Terang, Sarlongri Terang, Philipson Taro, Hitesh Rava, Enus Timung and Mangal Sing Rangphar were found guilty under Sections 147/149/341/323/302 of the Indian Penal Code and accordingly, they were convicted,� the court ruling held.
It may be mentioned here that after a gap of seven years, the trial of the case began in March 2018, in which there were 16 accused, out of which two are police personnel. The Judicial department of the Assam government appointed advocate Durga Prasad Jaiswal as a special public prosecutor in the trial. Jhankar, a degree first year student of Diphu Govt College, and his father Haren Chandra Saikia, a lawyer, at Diphu were beaten up at Diphu town by a group of auto rickshaw drivers on June 25, 2013 after they reportedly refused to pay Rs 30 instead of the �legitimate� fare of Rs 20.
As the auto drivers were battering both father and son, a few bystanders called the police but the cops allegedly pushed the youth towards the mob after taking his custody. Among the cops present at the place of incident were assistant sub inspector Ramesh Chandra Nath and havildar Harun Bora, who were acquitted by the court on Monday. Jhankar, who was critically injured in the brawl, was shifted to a private hospital at Guwahati where he succumbed to his injuries on July 1.
The Diphu police station registered a case No 95/13 under sections 294, 325, 307, 109, 147, 148, 149, 337, 338, 302 and 34 of Indian Penal Code (IPC). �Justice has been served though it took seven long years and I feel that Jhankar�s soul will get salvation. Even if we cannot get back our son but we hope that today�s judgment will be considered as a precedent and that no such tragedy should occur again,� said Haren Chandra Saikia, father of Jhankar while talking to the media.
