E-Paper
‘Lack of evidence’: HC acquits 5 convicted for 2004 Assam blast
The HC held that the trial court held the accused guilty “based on suspicion and speculation, not supported by the evidence adduced by the prosecution witness”
Nineteen years after a bomb blast allegedly carried out by the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) during an Independence Day parade in Dhemaji of Assam claimed 13 lives including 10 children and left 20 others injured, the Gauhati High Court on Thursday acquitted all five accused.
Terming it unsustainable, a division bench of justices Michael Zothankhuma and Mridul Kumar Kalita set aside the trial court order of July 2019 that had held the accused guilty, and acquitted Dipanjali Borgohain, Lila Gogoi, Jatin Dowari, Muhi Handique and Hemen Gogoi stating that “ the prosecution has not been able to prove the charges against them beyond all reasonable doubt”.
The bomb blast took place at 8:55 am on August 15, 2004, at the Dhemaji College playground. Five years later,ULFA, which is fighting for a sovereign Assam, claimed responsibility for the blast. It was believed that the outfit carried out the blast after its diktat to boycott the function was ignored.
In July 2019, a trial court in Dhemaji held six of the 15 accused named by the police guilty, while acquitting eight others. Four of them were sentenced to life and two others sentenced to four years for their roles in the blast. One was absconding. Five of those six accused filed appeals in the Gauhati High Court the same month challenging the trial court order.
“The lack of evidence to bring home the guilt of the appellants is clear from testimony of some of the witnesses and the statements given by them...We do not find any link to forge the chain of circumstantial evidence together...as per law laid down by the Supreme Court, when two views are possible, the view favourable to the accused has to be adopted,” the order read, stating that the prosecution case was based entirely on circumstantial evidence.
The HC held that the trial court held the accused guilty “based on suspicion and speculation, not supported by the evidence adduced by the prosecution witness”.
The court held that accused Jatin Dowari was sentenced by the trial court based on his confessional statement and the allegation that he recreated the scene of the crime during investigation. But during the trial, Dowari retracted his confession, and the video recording of the crime scene investigation was never produced in court.
On Thursday, after the HC passed its order, families of several victims blamed the state police for failing to investigate the case properly and ensure justice. Some hoped that the state government, which is the respondent in the case, would appeal the HC order in Supreme Court.
“We are surprised at the HC order. We can’t accept it. ULFA claimed responsibility for the blast, but we feel the state government and police failed to investigate the case properly. We want justice ” said the mother of one the victims requesting anonymity.
“We have come to know about the HC order acquitting the accused. We will study the order properly and take a decision on whether the state government should appeal in the Supreme Court,” said Assam’s advocate general Debajit Saikia.
Reacting to the verdict, Anup Chetia, general secretary of the pro-talks faction of ULFA, which surrendered arms in 2011 and joined peace talks, accepted the outfit’s role in the blast. “I can’t comment on the HC order; there may have been some flaws in investigation that led the court to pronounce the verdict.”