Assam: Youth's body found hanging from tree; family alleges murder for not converting to marry girlfriend
Darpan News Desk IANS, 15 Sep, 2022 12:56 PM
Guwahati, Sep 15 (IANS) In a shocking incident at a remote tea garden area at Koilamari Balijan in Assams Lakhimpur district, the body of a tribal youth -- Biki Bishal (20) -- was found hanging from a tree, the police said on Thursday.
The local people and Bishal's family members claimed that he was found with multiple wounds on Wednesday. It is alleged that Bishal was killed for not agreeing to convert to Christianity in order to marry his tribal girlfriend.
Though the police are yet to confirm whether the youth was killed or committed suicide, they have arrested five people in connection with the case.
The detainees include Bishal's girlfriend's father, two relatives and two officials of a local church in the area.
The victim's family has alleged that Bishal was called by someone from his girlfriend's family to her village on September 11 and had been missing since then.
"Bishal was killed and hanged since there was pressure on him to convert to his girlfriend's religion if he wished to marry her," a family member of the victim said.
Locals and the family members also said that Bishal and his girlfriend had eloped earlier this month as they wanted to get married, and subsequently Bishal had brought the girl to his home on September 3.
On September 6, the girl's family members, accompanied by some church officials, came to Bishal's house and allegedly took the girl away forcefully against her will.
The family members and villagers protested outside the local police station on Thursday, demanding justice for Bishal's family.
A day earlier, Sonia Gandhi asked party chiefs Sidhu in Punjab, Ganesh Godiyal in Uttarakhand, Ajay Kumar Lallu in Uttar Pradesh, Girish Chodankar in Goa and Nameirakpam Loken Singh in Manipur to resign. Sidhu, once a Chief Minister aspirant, faced defeat from his stronghold Amritsar (East) seat.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, representing the family members, submitted before a bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana that on March 10, a protected witness in the case had been attacked and the state government did not file an appeal challenging the bail granted to Misra in the case.
The SAD also announced the expulsion of Kalka from the primary membership of the party, besides dissolving the party's Delhi unit. It also announced the formation of a five-member ad hoc committee headed by veteran leader Avtar Singh Hit, and comprising Harinder Singh Kaypee, Bhupinder Singh Anand, Gurdev Singh Bhola, and Ravinder Singh Khurana.
In December last year, the Supreme Court had said it expects a fair investigation and investigating agencies should be neutral, as it asked Delhi Police to conclude the probe, by December 15, in a case against Singh.
Amid a call for leadership change in the party, Congress General Secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has called a meeting of party leaders on Tuesday to find out the reasons for the defeat. The Congress could only get just over 2 per cent votes and two seats in the Uttar Pradesh polls.
The plea argued that the high court granted bail without considering the heinous nature of the crime and also in the backdrop of overwhelming evidence against the accused in the charge sheet. The plea further argued that there is likelihood of the accused tampering with the witnesses and causing obstruction in justice.
