Guwahati: A budding Assamese poet from upper Assam’s Jorhat district has been accused of abetment to suicide in the death of a 24-year-old girl from Dhemaji.
Poet Achini Kumar Phukan, 25, whose poems have been featured in several leading Assamese magazines, including Satsori and Prakash, was arrested by Dhemaji police on April 6 in connection with the woman’s death.
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The incident, which occurred on March 2, 2025, only recently came to public attention.
According to the complaint filed by the victim’s father, his daughter died by suicide due to the instigation by poet Phukan. The young woman had completed her master’s degree in Hindi from Tezpur University.
Phukan, who hails from Titabar, himself holds a master’s degree in Assamese from Cotton University and had unsuccessfully contested students’ body elections in 2021-22.
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The Gauhati High Court granted bail to Achini Kumar Phukan on May 5, 2025. He was arrested in connection with Dhemaji P.S. Case No. 38/2025, registered under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, which pertains to the alleged instigation of suicide.
Phukan had been in judicial custody for 29 days since his arrest on April 6, 2025.
The case originated from an FIR lodged by the victim’s father on March 8, 2025, at Dhemaji Police Station.
The complainant alleged that on March 2, 2025, his 24-year-old daughter died by suicide by hanging herself. Mobile phone records reportedly revealed that the accused, Phukan, was in constant communication with his daughter and had instigated her to take the extreme step.