25 convicted in Assam tea estate doctor lynching case, witness identity concealment approach adopted

At least 25 accused in the sensational lynching of a 73-year-old doctor serving in a tea estate in Assam's Jorhat district, were convicted on Monday, a little over one year after the incident.

Six other accused were acquitted while judgment against one of the accused, who died during the trial was kept on abeyance.

Jorhat district and session judge, Robin Phukan pronounced the judgement convicting the accused under several sections of IPC and Section 4 of Assam Medical Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act, 2011. Quantum of punishmed would be pronounced on October 19.

The doctor, who served in the dispensary of Teok Tea Estate in eastern Assam's Jorhat district after his retirement was attacked by a mob on August 31 last year alleging that he was not in the dispensary when a patient died. The grusome killing of the doctor triggered outrage across Assam with many taking to the streets demanding strictest punishment to the accused and in less time.

The probe was conducted by a special investigation team headed by Siva Prasad Ganjala, deputy inspector general (Eastern Range) which concluded the case in a record time of 21 days and filed an elaborate 602 page chargesheet on September 21 last year.

First case to use witness protection method

A statement issued by Assam police said that this was the first criminal case in the country, where witness identity concealment approach was successfully used as per the order of the Supreme Court pronounced on December 5, 2018 in the Mahendra Chawla case. Based on the SC directive, the Centre had framed the witness protection scheme.

The apex court made the extraordinary intervention on a petition by four witnesses who were threatened for deposing against the godman Asaram Babu facing trial for the rape of women devotees.

"This is the first case in the country wherein witness identity concealment approach was used. Assam Police believes in faster disposal of cases by police and courts to bring desired deterrence," said the statement.

A total of 60 witnesses and 424 documents were quoted in the chargesheets. Police said the witness identity concealment approach helped them prepare a "strong" chargesheet leading to conviction of the accused.