GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has asked the state’s Director General of Police GP Singh to study a verdict of the state High Court that acquitted all six convicts of the 2004 Dhemaji bomb blast case.
“The police enquired about the Dhemaji blast long back. I have asked the DGP to study the verdict of the Gauhati High Court,” Sarma told journalists.
“If we get legal advice, then we will appeal before the Supreme Court (against the High Court’s verdict). But let’s see how the honourable judges came to that conclusion,” he added.
The blast, triggered by the insurgent group United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) during the celebration of Independence Day at the Dhemaji College playground, had left 13 persons dead, including 10 schoolchildren, and 19-20 others injured.
After initial denial, the ULFA had claimed responsibility for the blast. ULFA’s self-styled “Commander-in-Chief” Paresh Barua tendered an apology. He had described the incident as “the most tainted chapter of ULFA’s revolutionary history” and “the most brutal and heinous murder of children and women.”
On August 24, a division bench of the High Court overturned a 2019 order of the District and Sessions Court, Dhemaji, that pronounced life imprisonment for four persons and rigorous imprisonment of four years for two others. The High Court acquitted them by giving them the benefit of the doubt.
“…as the Prosecution has not been able to prove the guilt of the appellants in respect of the charges framed against them, they are acquitted of the charges framed against them, by giving them the benefit of the doubt,” the bench said in its order.
The court directed the state authorities to release the six persons from judicial custody immediately, if not wanted in some other criminal case.