Assam: Bandh in Dibrugarh after blast kills girl

A bandh called by various organisations in protest against the killing of a 14-year-old girl Purnima Rajak in a bomb blast on Tuesday evening, paralysed life in Dibrugarh city as well as the entire district on Thursday.

Some of the protestors turned violent and resorted to attack on vehicles on the streets and government owned buses belonging to Assam State Transport Corporation. The protestors damaged a number of private vehicles on the road during the bandh hour.

Tension mounted in Dibrugarh city since Wednesday after the body of the slain girl was handed over to the family by the authorities.

While the United Liberation Front of Assam (anti-talks) faction has denied its involvement in the blast that killed the young girl besides injuring several others, Assam government’s parliamentary secretary (Home) Atuwa Munda has reiterated that it was a handiwork of the ULFA faction.

However, state Director General of Police J N  Chaudhuri has avoided pinpointing the ULFA (anti-talks) as the culprit behind the blast. Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi stated that he would continue to shoulder the responsibility of the state’s home department despite recent spurt in violence.

Gogoi said so in reaction to comments made by a senior Congress legislator Anjan Dutta that though the chief minister was trying his best to ensure efficient functioning of the state home department, some of the officials in the department were misleading him in taking some decisions like posting of SPs in districts.

Gogoi, however, stated that no one can mislead him not even the chief secretary or the DGP and that he would continue to remain in charge of the home department.

Earlier, in the wake of mass protests against killing of two teenage students in ‘encounter’ with the police and the army in Chirang district of Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District Council, Gogoi directed the security forces to avoid targeting teenagers during the operation against insurgents.

He also ordered a high-level inquiry into the ‘encounter death’ by an additional chief secretary besides constituting a judicial probe.