GUWAHATI, June 8 - Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly Debabrata Saikia has called for immediate promulgation of an ordinance by the State government to curb mob violence.
In a letter to Governor Prof Jagdish Mukhi, the Congress leader pointed to the recent incident of lynching of Devashish Gogoi by a mob at the Gabhru Parbhat Tea Estate under the Mariani constituency.
�Assam has witnessed a perceptible spurt in mob violence over the last three-four years. In the last part of May, one Sanatan Deka was beaten to death by five miscreants at Hajo, and another person, Paragjyoti Neog, was similarly killed by 12 assailants at Chabua. Earlier, our entire State was shaken to the core when two young men, Nilotpal Das and Abhijeet Nath, were lynched by a mob in Karbi Anglong in 2018. Last year, a septuagenarian physician Dr Deben Dutta was beaten to death in Teok Tea Estate,� stated Saikia, who is also the Leader of the Congress Legislature Party.
He said that in the wake of the Karbi Anglong incident, the State government had assured the Legislative Assembly that a law would be framed at the earliest for preventive and remedial measures concerning mob violence.
�Similar assurances were given by the government after the murder of Dr Deben Dutta but the reality is that the trials of those accused in these incidents are still on. The assurances given by the Government of Assam have proved futile and, consequently, incidents of mob violence are continuing as usual,� stated Saikia.
He added that the Supreme Court has described mob lynching as a �horrendous act of mobocracy� and issued some preventive and remedial guidelines to tackle the menace.
�These include appointment of nodal officers to gather intelligence and disperse mobs, fast-tracking of trials that should preferably conclude within six months, protection of victims� families and payment of compensation to them, and initiation of disciplinary action against police or civil administration officials who fail to act against the perpetrators,� said the Leader of the Opposition.
He stated that some states like West Bengal, Rajasthan and Manipur have already framed legislation against mob violence.
Saikia requested the Governor to ensure that a judicial enquiry is instituted to ascertain the facts behind the Mariani mob lynching incident.
�Further, you may kindly ask the Government of Assam to immediately promulgate an ordinance to curb mob violence, pending expeditious enactment of a law for the same purpose,� Saikia stated in his letter to Prof Mukhi.
