Interim bail to Assam militant leader

The Gauhati high court on Friday granted interim bail to Ranjan Daimari, chairman of the militant group National Democratic Front of Bodoland (R), who was serving life imprisonment in 2008 serial bomb blasts case, to allow him to take part in the ongoing peace talks.

A bench of the high court granted the bail for four weeks, after his lawyer moved a petition seeking bail and the union ministry of home affairs and Assam government submitted a no-objection in the interest of peace process.

“Yes he was granted interim bail. He will take part in the peace talks,” Ranjan’s sister, Anjali Daimari, who also leads Bodo Women Justice Forum told DH on Friday evening.

Sources said Ranjan will be released from Guwahati central jail on Saturday and will be flown to New Delhi, where other factions of the NDFB are already stationed for the peace talks.

B Saoraigwra, president of NDFB (S), another faction, which was held responsible for December 2014 massacre of 84 Adivasis, had come from their Myanmar camp and is also camping in New Delhi for the talks. Saoraigwra signed a ceasefire agreement with the government on January 16.

The Centre and Assam government is likely to sign a “comprehensive agreement” with all four factions of the NDFB, as part of their efforts for establishing lasting peace in Assam, particularly in Bodoland Territorial Area Districts, a region which witnessed largescale violence in the past.

Daimari and nine others were sentenced life terms on January 30 last year by a special CBI court here, for their role in the deadly serial bomb blasts in Guwahati and a few other places on December 30, 2018, in which 84 people had died and 540 were injured.

The government had earlier similarly released Ulfa leaders from jail for taking part in talks.