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Youth during a protest rally against unidentified people responsible for lynching of two men in Central Assam’s Karbi Anglong district on suspicion of being 'child lifters', in Guwahati on Sunday. (PTI)[/caption]
Guwahati, June 10 (PTI): As many as 16 people have been arrested in connection with the lynching of two men in Karbi Anglong district of Assam, while a senior police officer has been given charge to keep a vigil on rumours in the social media, the DGP said today.
Among those arrested included the man who allegedly fanned the rumour on social media that child lifters had entered Assam, Director General of Police Kuladhar Saikia told reporters here.
While Additional Director General of Police Mukesh Agarwal is monitoring the investigation, ADGP Harmeet Singh has been given the charge of keeping a strict vigil on rumours on social media, Saikia said.
He appealed to the people not to get swayed by rumours on social media and immediately inform police if they came across any such post.
The police has released some telephone numbers through which the people can contact them. They can also inform the nearest police station, the Superintendent of Police or the police headquarter in Guwahati about, the DGP said.
The cyberspace is very wide requiring more people to monitor it and Chief Secretary T Y Das has given the nod to bring in more people to monitor social media, the DGP said.
The chief secretary was also present at the press conference.
Asked whether forces from outside the state were spreading rumours in the run up to the publication of the second draft of the National Register of Citizens slated on June 30, the DGP said it was not possible to say anything at this stage, but the investigation covered all angles.
He said security in vulnerable areas of the state has been intensified and special patrolling was being conducted, particularly in the weekly Sunday markets, to prevent any untoward incident.
Two men, returning from a picnic spot, were pulled out of their car and lynched by villagers who suspected them to be child lifters in Assam's Karbi Anglong district, in a gruesome incident of mob fury which police blamed on panic created by social media posts.
Nilotpal Das (29), a sound engineer based in Mumbai, and his friend Abhijeet Nath (30), a businessman, had gone to the picnic spot Kangthilangso on Friday night to capture the sounds of nature and were on their way back when they were stopped by some villagers at Panjuri and thrashed, despite the duo pleading that they were Assamese and not outsiders, police said.
In a video of the incident circulated on social media, the two men can be heard begging for their lives and trying to explain to the livid crowd that they were innocent but to no avail.
After the police reached the spot, the two seriously injured men were rushed to a hospital but they died on the way.
Their bodies were brought to Guwahati and cremated late last night.
Thousands of protestors today gathered at the Gauhati Commerce College and blocked the busy RG Baruah Road for nearly three hours, leading to massive traffic jam.
The protestors, demanding speedy justice against lynching of two youths in Assam's Karbi Anglong district on Friday night, were subjected to mild lathicharge by the police.
"Till the time they were peaceful, we had no objection and allowed them to express their feelings. But as it was already around three hours of protest in the form of road blockade, we requested them to leave in the evening and most of the agitators had left," Deputy Commissioner (Central) of Guwahati Police Ranjan Bhuyan told PTI.
However, around hundred protesters refused to leave the spot and even started drinking alcohol on the road, he said, adding they threw stones and bottles on policemen.
"We had no option but to use mild lathicharge to disperse them," Bhuyan said.
Stones and other items were also thrown at media persons present there, but no immediate report of any injury has been received.
Guwahati Police Commissioner Hiren Chandra Nath said "some people" called him last night to tell him about their plans to hold the protest and a candle light procession, but that was an "informal intimation".
"Policemen were present at the spot. We are not objecting to their protest as long as they are peaceful. This is a very sensitive matter and people are emotional," he said.
Nath said three persons have been picked up and their role was being probed.
The call for the protest was given by a Facebook group 'Justice for Nilotpal and Abhijeet'. The group was started yesterday and nearly 60,000 people have joined it within 24 hours.
Two friends, Nilotpal Das and Abhijeet Nath, had gone to a picnic spot Kangthilangso in Karbi Anglong on Friday and while returning, their vehicle was stopped at Panjuri by a mob that pulled them out and beat them to death on the suspicion that they were child lifters.
One of the women protesters said, "We have come out not only for demanding justice for Nilotpal and Abhijeet alone, but for all who have been victims of any kind of superstition. And this case should not continue for one or two years. We want speedy justice".
Another protester Wasim Ahmed said, "First, we demand that the trial be done in a fast track court. Secondly, we want that the deputy commissioner who made an irresponsible statement be sacked immediately. Thirdly, an Act should be brought in to deal with such cases".
Karbi Anglong Deputy Commissioner Mridul Kumar Mahanta had reportedly said that the two should have informed the police before visiting the picturesque district, which is in central Assam.
A student of Gauhati University said, "If Assamese people are not safe in Assam, where will we go? This cannot go on. The culprits must get exemplary punishment".
Protests have taken place against the killing at various places across the state.
The All Assam Students' Union, Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chhatra Parishad and Karbi Students' Association protested at Dokmoka police station, under the jurisdiction of which the incident site falls.
Protests also took place in other places like Numaligarh and Diphu.