The recent custodial murder of the father-son duo, by the police in Sathankulam (Thoothukudi, Tamilnadu), has rightly created huge outburst of public shock and outrage in the media, the social media and the civil society, the focus being the inhuman torture including sexual assault inside police custody for just defying lockdown regulations.

The Thoothukudi incident has once again drawn our attention to the custodial and other forms of violence and atrocities committed by the police and the security forces on the civilians. The deceased – P. Jayaraj (58) and his son J. Bennicks (31), who ran a mobile accessories shop, were traders from the Christian Nadar community. Though Christians, the identity of Jayaraj’s family was strongly rooted in a powerful land-owning caste, after all, not so different from us – the middle class Hindus. Had it not been the case, would there be such a demonstration of media coverage and social media outrage?

The answer lies in the total silence of the national media and the public reaction in mainland India to a similar incident of custodial torture and killing of Jayanta Bora, a 23-year-old degree student, who was picked up on the midnight of 15th June, in a joint operation conducted by the Borholla Police Station under Jorhat district of Assam, and the 244 Field Regiment of the Indian Army.

Bora was picked up while he was asleep in his home, and was forcefully taken away by the police and the army, who later alleged that he had connections with the ULFA-Independent and dealt in illegal weapons. Jayanta Borah succumbed to death in police custody on that very night.

Next day, when Borholla police took the dead boy’s body to his home to hand it over to his family, the boy was foaming at the mouth. His mother, Lila Bora, refused to take her son’s body without a proper investigation on the cause of his death. So the police kept the body in an ambulance, where it lay by the roadside all night. The family and villagers finally took custody of the body for the funeral rites, when the state agriculture minister Atul Bora, Jorhat MP Tapan Kumar Gogoi and state PWD minister Jugen Mohan went over and assured them of proper investigation in the matter.

The brutal death of this Assamese youngster, labelled as a murder by his family, well-wishers as well as the Assamese people, went unnoticed by the media and public outside Assam.

Meanwhile, Assamese civil society and political parties have reacted sharply to this incident. Many claimed it as a fresh episode of the much dreaded secret killings in the state – a repeat of the darkest history of Assam after 18 years. Manoj Gogoi, leader of Assam Yuva Mancha, condemning the incident said, “Such murders of Assamese youth, by portraying them as ULFA members, are nothing new. We condemn such a heinous crime and demand the strictest punishment for all involved. Such acts cannot be the solution to the long years of unsolved issues between Assam and India. If the Centre continues with such acts then Assamese youth will be compelled to think of liberation.”

The Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) has called out Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal to not just provide “mere compensation” but to initiate a full enquiry on the incident. Along with KMSS, civil organisations like Assam Jatiyota Yuva Parisad and others have raised voice against the matter.

A report by Satra Mukti Sangram Samiti (SMSS), the student wing of KMSS, on the incident is given below:

Report on the Custodial Murder of Jayanta Borah

• On 15 June 2020 at around 00:30 AM, a team of 9 Indian Army personnel, under Major Sachin Sinha of 244 Field Regiment, based in Charaideo, assisted by a team of Assam Police under Amit Kumar Hojai, Sub-Divisional Police Officer, Titabor and Mintu Kumar Handique, Officer-in-Charge (OC), Borholla Police Station (PS) picked up Jayanta Borah, 25 year old son of late Hem Borah, who himself had served in the Indian Army, from his home at Balijan Gabhoru Ali, Kakodonga Habi Gaon, Borholla in Jorhat district in Assam, where he lived with his mother, Lila Borah. After he had been brought to Borholla PS, Jayanta Borah succumbed to death in police custody on that very night. Witness reports confirm the following:

• When the joint team of the Indian Army and Assam Police came to take Jayanta Borah into custody, they did not show or hand over any arrest warrant to his old mother, Lila Borah. Neither did they inform the village headman and the Village Defence Party (VDP).

• When Lila Borah told the team of Assam Police, that she would send Jayanta to the police station in the morning of 15 June 2020, Borholla PS OC, Mintu Handique forcefully dragged him and handed him over to the team of the Indian Army. Mintu Handique allegedly made Jayanta’s illiterate mother sign on a paper with a heading “No Objection (Military Custody).”

• Jayanta Borah succumbed to death almost within an hour because of the heinous torture while he was in police custody. The register entry of Jayanta Borah at Borholla Community Health Centre (CHC) shows the time of admission as 01:15 AM on 15 June 2020.

• No matter how much Assam Police try to show their ignorance or put the blame solely on the Indian Army, Jayanta Borah’s death in police custody is not possible without the help of the concerned officers of Assam Police. Dr. Dolen Borah, who was on duty when Jayanta was taken to Borholla CHC, confirmed that the team of Assam Police accompanied the team of the Indian Army to the Jorhat Medical College Hospital (JMCH).

• Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Shiv Prasad Ganjawala told the media that Jayanta Borah was alive when the team of the Indian Army admitted him in the JMCH (link to video: https://www.facebook.com/pragnewsassam/videos/954148618378384/; 01:43 onwards).

a. But Dr. Dolen Borah clarified that when Jayanta Borah was taken to Borholla CHC, there was no consciousness, no pulse rate, no blood pressure, and no nerve pulse in his body. He added that Jayanta died on his way to the JMCH (link to video: https://www.facebook.com/870389019798339/posts/1218372888333282/; 01:15 onwards).

b. This is also confirmed in the Medico Legal Case (MLC) record in the JMCH.

• Once details of Jayanta Borah’s extra-judicial killing came to light, his family members and the villagers refused to receive the dead body unless preliminary investigation began after identifying the perpetrators of custodial violence within 24 hours. When the people refused to budge on their demand, the Deputy Commissioner (DC) and District Magistrate (DM) of Jorhat, Roshni Aparanji Korati visited Jayanta Borah’s house in the morning of 16 June 2020 and requested the family members to accept the body. She also ordered a magisterial inquiry and wrote to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to look into the incident (Case no. 98/3/72020-AD).

• Despite concerted efforts to pacify the agitated family and the protesting villagers by the district administration, high ranking officers of Assam Police as well as local representatives of the government, the people refused to be silent over the custodial death of an innocent youth. At the behest of the Chief Minister of the state, Sarbananda Sonowal, Assam’s Agricultural Minister, Atul Bora, Member of Parliament from Jorhat, Topon Gogoi and the Minister of State for Revenue, Jogen Mohan visited Jayanta Borah’s house. Subsequently, Sub-Divisional Police Officer of Titabor, Amit Kumar Hojai, Borholla PS OC, Mintu Kumar Handique and Bekajan Police Outpost In-Charge, Gopal Doley were suspended.

a. Jayanta’s mother, Lila Borah filed a first information report (FIR) in Borholla PS on 15 June 2020. However, the suspended police officers have not yet been arrested or taken into custody for interrogation. In addition, no action has been taken against Major Sachin Sinha and his team of 8 Indian Army personnel (Annexure 3: FIR filed by Lila Borah).

• A new aspect related to Jayanta Borah’s custodial death has come to light. A report published on the first page of the leading Assamese daily, Amar Asom on 18 June 2020, titled “Koilar pora xena arokkhir dhon xongrohor photo tulisil Jayantai” [“Jayanta clicked photos of Indian Army and Assam Police illegally collecting money from coal mafia”] as well as a video uploaded on social media platform, Facebook by Sanjib Kumar Gogoi, a local social activist on 8 February 2020, at 9:38 AM (link to video: https://www.facebook.com/100003741183419/posts/1984019928399361/ [it has been subsequently deleted]) hint at vengeful motives of the Indian Army and Assam Police behind Jayanta’s murder.

• The photographs of the dead body of Jayanta Borah prove that he had been a victim of vicious and fatal torture at the hands of the Indian Army and Assam Police. The photographs show how a healthy, vigorous youth was brutally tortured in police custody (there were severe injuries on his head and ear, and the result of severe blows to his genitalia could be clearly seen). This is clearly not a case of natural death.

We are firmly convinced that unless the roles of all the concerned personnel of both Indian Army and Assam Police are strictly investigated, it is not possible to identify the murderers of Jayanta Borah. We demand an impartial and swift probe into Jayanta Borah’s custodial death and those responsible be exemplarily and appropriately punished for their crime.

Image courtesy: https://www.insidene.com/