GUWAHATI, Oct 15 : The Baksa district administration in Assam today evening promulgated prohibitory orders in Mushalpur Town in the district and banned mobile internet and data service in the adjoining areas following the mob clash with police protesting against shifting of the five accused in Zubeen Garg death case to the Baksa district Jail.
Baksa District Commissioner Goutam Das issued the prohibitory orders under Section 163 BNSS. Assembly of five or more persons in places situated within 500 metres periphery of the District Jail in Baksa.
The orders also banned carrying of lethal weapons or arms in public places, including lathis, daggers, sticks, spears, swords. Public rallies, processions, demonstrations, strikes, hunger strikes, dharnas, or shouting of slogans within 500 meters periphery of the District Jail, Baksa without permission, causing obstruction to roads, highways, footpaths, or normal movement of traffic.
The district Jail in Assam’s Baksa district turned into a battlefield on Wednesday after a group of people clashed with police protesting against shifting of the five accused in Zubeen Garg death case to the newly inaugurated Jail in the district.
Police had to resort to lathi charge, firing of tear gas shells and firing in the air to disperse thousands of people who continued stone pelting for hours till filing of this report.
Apart from pelting stones at the police, the violent mob also set on fire several vehicles belonging to police, media and civilians. Several of the policemen, including women, and protesters also received injuries during the clash that continued for over three hours.
The irate mob, numbering to thousands of people, gathered around the Baksa district Jail started stone pelting to the convoy, carrying the five accused including North East India Festival organizer Shyamkanu Mahanta, Zubeen Garg’s manager Siddharth Sharma, Zubeen’s cousin and police officer Sandipan Garg and two personal security officers of Zubeen Garg Nandeswar Bora and Paresh Baishya.
Additional forces have been rushed to Baksa as the situation continued to be tense, with protesting mob refusing to disperse despite the firing in the blank and lathi charge. The government has also rushed Rapid Action Force battalions to Baksa to control the situation.
The SIT on Wednesday morning produced the five arrested accused in the court and they were remanded in 14 day judicial custody. Upon remand in judicial custody, the five were taken to Baksa district Jail amid tight security. The Baksa district Jail was inaugurated in August this year.
Government advocate Pradip Konwar said that the court remanded the five into 14 days judicial custody after the police custody expired. “Fourteen days is the maximum time of police custody, there is no provision to extend the police custody beyond 14 days. So they were remanded in judicial custody,” Konwar said, adding that no bail petition was moved for the accused.
The development in Baksa on Wednesday also exposed the people’s anger over the death of iconic singer Zubeen Garg. Although the government has instituted an SIT of the Assam police and sent letters under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLET) to Singapore authorities seeking cooperation in investigation of Zubeen Garg’s death, yet people seem to have remained unsatisfied over the progress of investigation. (UNI)
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