16 years after Jogdal massacre in Kamrup, local group seeks NHRC intervention

Guwahati, Dec 14: Sixteen years after six members of a family were hacked to death in their home in Jogdal village in Assam’s Kamrup Metropolitan district, a local organisation has approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), seeking justice for the victims.

The Dimoria Bikash Manch has urged NHRC chairperson Justice V. R. Rama Subramanian to take cognisance of alleged human rights violations in the case and sought the Commission’s intervention to ensure a fair, independent and time-bound investigation.

Chief adviser of the Manch, Dibyajyoti Medhi, who submitted the petition on Saturday, said, “We met a member of the Commission and handed over our petition. He has assured us that the matter will be looked into.”

Noting that justice has been awaited for 16 years, Medhi expressed hope that the NHRC’s intervention would bring relief to the victims’ families.

“Doloi (one of the victims) was a marginal cultivator, and the family was economically impoverished, with no known enmity with any individual or group,” he said.

The petition alleged that the investigation was “deliberately weakened due to the suspected involvement of a then minister of the Assam government.” The Congress was in power in the state 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,” the petition claimed.

The Manch further pointed out that a prime accused, Arjun Bordoloi, was killed under mysterious circumstances on September 5, 2012, raising further concerns about the integrity of the investigation.

The incident occurred on the night of December 12, 2009, when unidentified assailants brutally killed Harakanta Doloi, his wife Swapna, their three children and a nephew at their residence in Jogdal.

The killings were suspected to be linked to the alleged use of political influence by certain leaders to acquire land in the area for a proposed luxury hotel project. The perpetrators, however, have yet to be brought to book.

Subsequently, the case was transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). On December 7, 2017, two police officers, Pranab Kumar Deka, then officer-in-charge of Sonapur police station and A. M. Choudhury, the then investigating officer, were arrested on charges of deliberately destroying evidence with the intention of shielding the actual perpetrators.

A year later, the state government handed over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Despite sustained protests and repeated representations by several 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.

It further urged that all those responsible for the crime, as well as for the alleged obstruction of justice, be brought to book in accordance with the law.

PTI