Six convicted, eight acquitted in 2004 Assam Ulfa blast case

GUWAHATI: Fifteen years after the Independence Day blast at Dhemaji by Ulfa, six of the 15 accused were convicted and eight acquitted by a district sessions court on Thursday.
Of those convicted, four Ulfa (I) cadres - Jatin Duwari, Lila Khan, Dipanjali Gohain, Muhi Handique - have been sentenced to life imprisonment while two - Prasanta Bhuyan and Hemen Gogoi - got four years' rigorous imprisonment.
Eight others named in the police charge sheet were acquitted for want of evidence. One of the accused, Rashid Bharali, believed to be the mastermind behind the blast, has been absconding since he jumped bail.
Families of blast victims, while welcoming the court's verdict, said they would have been "happier had the court handed a death sentence". Trial in the case began in 2012, a year after police filed the charge sheet. The court recorded statements of 55 prosecution witnesses.
The blast at Dhemaji College Ground during Independence Day celebrations had killed 13, including 10 children, and injured several others.
After the blast, following a backlash, Ulfa (then undivided) denied its involvement and continued to do so for five years. Eventually, this became one of the primary reasons the outfit split in 2009.
Ulfa chief Arabinda Rajkhowa, who came overground and joined the peace process, apologized to the families of blast victims.
Militant outfit took five years to admit role
Paresh Baruah, commander-in-chief of Ulfa then and Ulfa (Independent) now, admitted to the outfit’s role in 2009, calling it “the darkest chapter of Ulfa’s revolutionary history” and “the most brutal and heinous murder of children and women.” The denial prior to this admission, he said, had come because ground-level cadres who had executed the blast had “misinformed” the leadership that the blast had actually been the “handiwork of security forces”. Later, he changed tack again and said Ulfa had declared the parade ground was a “war zone” and appealed to the people not to take part in the Independence Day celebrations but were “taken forcibly” by the government.
Yet, the chargesheet does not name any top Ulfa leader.