Cadre of now disbanded NDFB gets life imprisonment for Assam massacre of 2014

A special NIA court pronounced life imprisonment to a former member of the now-disbanded insurgent group National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) for a massacre in Assam's Kokrajhar district in 2014.

All four factions of the NDFB were disbanded on March 10, 2020, weeks after it signed an agreement with the government and all its cadres surrendered and deposited a huge cache of weapons.

The NIA Court here sentenced life imprisonment to Rabi Basumatary alias Rongjabala, along with rigorous imprisonment of 10 years under various sections of the IPC for indiscriminate firing at Balapara village on May 1, 2024, in which seven villagers were killed and two others were injured.

The NIA on Wednesday said Rabi, who was convicted by the court on March 13, 2023, has been sentenced to life imprisonment in two cases and RI in two others (Sections 302, 307 and 34 of the IPC and section 16 (1) (a) & 20 of the UA (P) Act, 1967). He has also been fined in all the cases and will have to undergo additional simple imprisonment in case of failure to pay the same. All the substantive sentences will run concurrently. Rabi was arrested in 2016.

The NIA statement said the original charge sheet in the case was filed in Gossaigaon, Assam, against accused Pradip Brahma alias Pwler in August 2015. A second supplementary charge sheet was filed in October 2019 against another accused Upen Basumatary alias Usaobadao, while a third supplementary charge sheet was filed in January 2021 against five absconding accused persons.

The Special NIA Court convicted and sentenced accused Pradip Brahma to life imprisonment in July 2016. The trial against Upen is on and the search for the absconding accused continues, the NIA said.

"Investigations in the case revealed that Rabi Basumutary alias B Rongjabaja was a member of the NDFB, an armed separatist outfit fighting to obtain a sovereign Boroland for the Bodo people. They opened indiscriminate fire on the villagers on instructions from top NDFB leadership headed by G Bidai and Songbijit," the NIA said.

The Special NIA Court subsequently registered the case and started an investigation.

After the new Bodo Accord was signed in January 2020, many NDFB members contested elections and became MLAs and executive members of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC). The BTC is an autonomous council set up for the welfare of the Bodos and other communities in the Bodoland Territorial Region comprising Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri districts in western and North Assam.

Leaders of BTC including its Chief Executive Member, Pramod Boro had even moved the Centre with a request for withdrawal of the cases pending against the NDFB leadership and members. But the Centre is not in favour of the withdrawal of the cases registered related to "heinous crime" like the killings at Balapara village. Pramod is a former president of the All Bodo Students' Union.