Many parts of Assam witnessed uproar and protests after a leader of All Assam Students' Union (AASU) was beaten to death by a mob in Jorhat town on Monday, suspecting that his vehicle hit a scooterist.
Police said preliminary investigation revealed that the victim, Animesh Bhuyan, a leader of Jorhat district unit of AASU and two of his friends had stopped their vehicle when they saw the scooterist lying on the road with injury on his head. "They rushed to help the scooterist but he shouted at them saying they had hit him with their vehicle. But the investigation so far suggests the man was in drunken state and had fallen on his own. But a mob had already caught them and started beating them without knowing what exactly happened," Jorhat SP, Ankur Jain told reporters.
Bhuyan, 28 was declared dead in the hospital and his two friends, including a journalist also sustained serious injuries in the mob attack.
AASU is an influential students' body in Assam.
As protest erupted in many parts of Assam, police arrested 13 persons, including Neeraj Das alias Kola, the son of the scooterist. Neeraj, the main accused, is a habitual offender according to the police. Police said around 50 persons were involved in the attack.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma assured that the trial of the case would be conducted in a fast track court as demanded by many and announced financial assistance of Rs. 5 lakh to Bhuyan's family.
Demanding exemplary punishment, general secretary of AASU, Sankarjyoti Baruah said the state was reporting incidents of mob lynching due to government's failure to ensure that the accused gets strict punishment as per law.
Baruah referred to lynching of two youths, Abhijit Nath and Neelotpal Das similarly at Dokmoka in Karbi Anglong district in June, 2018. The case related to the incident is still pending in the court.
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