Delhi Students Demand Justice for the 2 Youth Lynched By A Mob in Assam

NEW DELHI: The All Assamese Students’ Association (AASA), New Delhi held a prayer meet last evening in memory of Nilotpal Das and Abhijit Nath at the Faculty of Arts, Delhi University.

Both the young men had been lynched by a mob in Assam that took them to be child kidnappers. The brutal incident took place in the district of Karbi Anglong in Assam.

Several students from various colleges and universities of Delhi joined the meeting and paid their condolences to the deceased souls. Everyone present at the meeting condemned the brutal killing of the two men from Guwahati and asked for immediate justice.

Ranjan Bikash Bora, President of AASA told The Citizen, “We need to send a strong message from Delhi. We demand punishment for the perpetrators and also request everyone in Assam to maintain communal harmony. We do not accuse any particular race or community for this unfortunate event. All we demand is immediate action from the government and judiciary and justice should prevail.”

On being asked regarding the safety and security of students from Karbi Anglong studying in Delhi, Borah has further assured that no such incident will take place in the capital city and that AASA is ready to help out anyone if any such untoward incident takes place by any chance.

Several members of the Northeast Forum for International Solidarity too attended the meeting. One of the members said, “We condemn the brutal incident and the culprits should be punished. Along with them, the role of the Administration of Karbi Anglong is also to be condemned. But we also request all the students here to speak up against the culture of mob-lynching as its consequences are nothing but barbaric.”

The brutal murder of the two men has snowballed into a whole new controversy in the past two days where a peaceful protest march attended by thousands of people in Guwahati a day ago turned violent. Several miscreants are reported to have pelted stones and water bottles with a police lathi charge injuring several protestors who were marching for justice. The government is under pressure to arrest the assailants, and try them in a fast track court.

Protests have also seen to be taken place all over Assam including Diphu, the headquarters of Karbi Anglong, with the demand for immediate justice.

The Commissioner of Police, Guwahati is reported to have further directed that no demonstrations and candle-light marches are allowed to be held anymore in the city without prior permission of his office.

Following the incident on Friday, the public reaction is seen to have been divided. Where on one hand a group of people are requesting everyone to maintain communal harmony, on the other hand several videos on the social media are making rounds where a group of youths in claim to be on the hunt for people from Karbi Ablong, threatening them and holding the populace responsible for the attack.

Several such ‘rumour mongers’, according to the Assam Police, have been arrested from the districts of Nagaon, Dibrugarh, Barpeta and Sonitpur for attempting to spread hate massages.

According to further updates by the Assam Police, 5 more persons have been arrested on Monday, bringing the total number so far to 23. The person accused of uploading the video of the barbaric act which made it go viral on the social media has also been arrested.