GUWAHATI: An Assam court on Monday convicted 25 people in connection with the lynching of a doctor last year.
The conviction was under various Sections, including 302, of the IPC. The court in Jorhat will pronounce the quantum of punishment on October 19. It acquitted six accused while another had died during the course of the trial.
Deben Dutta, 73, was lynched by a mob at a tea estate in Teok in August last year following the death of a tea garden worker, Somra Majhi, whom he had treated.
Aparajita Dutta, who is the widow of the doctor and was in the court on Monday, welcomed the judgment.
“I am happy over the court’s judgment. Never before has a court in Assam convicted so many people in one case,” she said.
Her husband had served in that tea garden for four decades. His lynching had triggered a massive protest as well as insecurity among doctors serving in the state’s tea gardens which saw seven of them quitting their jobs.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) had also viewed the murder seriously and sent a delegation to the state. The IMA had demanded the trial of the case in a fast-track court and safety and security to the lives and property of doctors.