GUWAHATI, June 8 - The brutal mob lynching of Abhijit Nath and Neelotpal Das that shocked the entire State, completed two years on Monday and is still awaiting justice.
It was on June 8, 2018 when in one of the most heart-wrenching incidents of mob lynching, the two youths of Guwahati were brutally done to death at Dokmoka in Karbi Anglong as they were suspected to be �child lifters�.
Even as the incident is still etched in public memory, a number of other similar incidents have happened in the State till date, exposing some lax in the existing machinery to deal with such issues, said social activist Dr Dibyajyoti Saikia, who has been closely following superstition and hoax-related cases of violence in the State for more than a decade.
�Worse still, more than ten persons have lost their lives in the State in mob violence and in most of the cases, the justice delivery process has been very slow. Just two months after the Abhi-Neel mob lynching, four persons became victims of mob violence at Sootea in Biswanath district in which one Deben Tanti lost his life. In August 2019, a youth of Nazira was killed at Namati Bazar in Sivasagar. The brutal mob attack on Dr Deben Dutta at Teok in Jorhat, resulting in his death, attack on Sanatan Deka, and other similar incidents at Chabua and Mariani are just a few incidents that indicate the seriousness of such crimes,� Saikia said.
Waiting for justice in the gruesome twin murder incident, and praying for eternal peace of the departed souls, the Neel-Abhi Smrity Raksha Samity today organised a tribute programme at Silpukhuri Naamghar.
�Though we have complete faith in our judicial system, we hope that the justice delivery mechanism will be expedited in the Abhi-Neel case. We understand that among other factors, the present COVID-19 situation has affected the progress of the case, yet we hope that the process would be expedited hereon,� Ajit Kumar Nath, father of Abhijit told The Assam Tribune.
�Incidents of mob lynching are on the rise across the country as identification of actual criminals becomes difficult among the nameless and faceless mob. Many a time, the actual culprits manage to go scot-free amid the confusion. Such crimes need a separate law so that exemplary punishment is given to those involved in such incidents to deter others from committing such crimes. Moreover, fast track trial of such cases is also required,� added Saikia.
