The Diphu District Court on Friday awarded life imprisonment to the 12 convicts in the Jhankar Saikia lynching case.
The 12 convicts are- Biswajit Hanse, Sarsing Teron, Robinson Teron, Sanjay Rongphar, Bikram Tisso, Enush Timung, Longsing Teron, Binong Terang, Sarlongbi Terang, Philipson Taro, Hitesh Rabha and Mangal Sing Rongphar.
The 12 convicts were prosecuted under section 147, 341, 323, 302 and 149 of the IPC.
On Monday, the court had convicted 12 and acquited 4 persons who were named in the case.
After the hearing on Monday, Special Public Prosecutor (PP), Durga Prasad Jaiswal briefed said, “The court has pass judgement against 12 accused, who were found guilty and the rest were found not guilty,” Jaiswal said.
Those who are acquitted by the court were Assistant Sub-Inspector Ramesh Chandra Nath, Havildar Harun Bora, Sarthe Bey and Dilip Teron.
On Wednesday, Joint Action Committee for Autonomous State (JACAS) chairman Kharsing Teron expressed dissatisfaction on Diphu District Court’s verdict and said they would challenge it in High Court.
16-year-old, Jhankar Saikia and his lawyer-father Haren Saikia were thrashed on June 25, 2013, by a group of auto-rickshaw drivers after they had refused to pay Rs 30 instead of the regular fare of Rs 20.
The incident happened in the presence of the police who did “nothing” to stop the auto-rickshaw drivers.
The critically injured teenager was shifted to a private hospital in Diphu where he succumbed to his injuries on July 1, 2013.
The Diphu Police Station registered a case (No 95/13) under Sections 294, 325, 307, 109, 147, 148, 149, 337, 338, 302 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.
The trial of the case began five years later in March 2018.
