NRHC directs Assam to compensate families of 36 victims of 2014 Baksa massacre

Three years after 36 people were killed by Bodo militants in Assam’s Baksa and Kokrajhar districts, the NHRC has asked the state government to compensate their families.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday directed the Assam government to compensate families of 36 victims killed by Bodo militants three years ago.

File photo of a burning house in a village in Kokrajhar district where Bodo militants have often unleashed violence.(AP)

At least 36 people including women and children were killed and many others injured in three separate incidents in Kokrajhar and Baksa districts on May 1 and 2, 2014, days after voting for Lok Sabha polls in the state.

The attacks were reportedly carried out by the Songbijit faction of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB). All the victims were migrant Muslims.

Many houses were also burnt down by the militants in several villages forcing survivors to flee and seek shelter in relief camps.

“Families of 36 victims would get an amount of five lakh rupees each and five seriously injured would receive three lakhs each,” NHRC chairman Justice HL Dattu told journalists here on Thursday.

The team also heard a case of ‘address crisis’ of nearly 4,000 residents of Bamunjhar village in Assam.

According to electoral rolls, the village falls in Tamulpur sub-division in Baksa district, but the police station is Sipajhar and revenue circle in Patharughat - both in Darrang district.

With the state government too failing to provide any conclusion to where the village falls, development work has got affected, forcing residents to threaten mass self-immolation.

“We discussed the matter and have asked the Assam chief secretary to inquire into it and submit a report within the next three months,” Dattu said.

The NHRC team was in the state capital after a gap of five years to conduct camp sitting/open hearing of a total of 43 cases from Assam and Meghalaya for two days.