Assam doctor lynching case: Court convicts 25 accused, six others declared innocent

GUWAHATI:

The Jorhat District Sessions Judge Court on Monday, pronounced its verdict in the lynching case of a 72-year-old doctor at a tea garden in Upper Assam, convicting 25 persons out of the 31 accused under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Six accused have been declared innocent.

The 25 accused were convicted by the court in the Teok police station case number 434/2019 under sections 302/ 341/ 342/ 353/ 427/ 506/ 143/ 144/ 147/ 148 r/w 149/ 186/ 109 of IPC read with Section 4 of the Assam Medicare Service Persons & Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence & Damage to Property) Act, 2011.

Deben Dutta, a senior medical officer at Teok Tea Estate was lynched by a section of workers in the tea garden in Jorhat district on August 31, 2019.

The 'gruesome' incident sparked outrage and condemnation with the medical fraternity staging protests and demonstrations across the country, demanding stringent action against the perpetrators.

The Assam Police team led by Siva Prasad, Deputy Inspector General (IGP), Eastern Range, investigated and concluded the case in a record time of three weeks and filed an elaborate 602-page charge sheet on September 21, 2019.

This is the first case in the country wherein "witness identify concealment approach" was used.

Sources said that the quantum of punishment for the convicts would be announced on October 19, 2020.

Since the minimum punishment under the provisions of law that were invoked is life imprisonment, it is believed that the case is going to set a record on various counts.