[Assam] A request.....made by Dr. Bikash Kumar Das

Sun Dec 2 00:46:43 PST 2007

Hello Dr. Das:

I only have the following emails that had a Telegraph article, the CNN-IBN video clip and an article from Times of India about the unfortunate incident that happened in Beltola on Nov. 24. 

I got these mails from Assam Net, the electronic mailiing list that we both subscribe to. You might have missed it somehow.

Hope this helps. Keep up the good work. 

Regards,
- Alpana Sarangapani
Spring, Texas. USA.

Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 18:21:34 -0800From: dilipdeka at yahoo.comTo: assam at assamnet.orgSubject: Re: [Assam] Mob strips woman protester in Guwahati - Times of India
Shame on Beltola residents who let it go to this extent!

Read the report from the Telegraph and see for yourself who have taken over the streets of Guwahati, in this case the street vendors. Does that hold true for all of Guwahati? I hope that is not the case in Uzanbazar where I grew up.
I suspect this is how the sequence/chronology went:
The front line of the processionists got violent, damaged property all along and ran.
The business owners and their employees started revenge on the next batch of processionists that consisted of the non-violent weaker members including this woman.
The local residents and reinforcement of security forces got into action and controlled the street mob to bring an end to the fury.

Unfortunately I felt many years ago this is how Guwahati will turn out to be due to uncontrolled growth. What can I say?
Dilip Deka
===================================================

FROM THE TELEGRAPH
Shame on Guwahati streets

A STAFF REPORTER

Guwahati, Nov. 26: A young Adivasi woman ran down a Guwahati street naked, stripped by ethnic rioters, while leering city youths clicked away with their cellphone cameras.
As television today brought to Assam homes one more scene of Saturday’s street horror — when hundreds of tribals were attacked over a 3.5km stretch of the city — police arrested the woman’s three tormentors.
“The three had pounced on her like a pack of dogs and started stripping her. All her pleas fell on deaf ears till they had stripped her naked. Only then did they let her go,” said a police officer quoting eyewitnesses to the mob retaliation to a violent Adivasi students’ march.
The woman sprinted away from a large group of jeering men and ran on in panic till somebody threw her a piece of clothing.
The sight left homemaker Ananya Baruah dumbfounded on her second-floor balcony at Beltola, the epicentre from where the rioting spilled over several localities.
“She was running like mad. Some people were clicking pictures with their cellphones. It was one of the worst crimes any civilised society could have committed. I felt so helpless just watching. The girl disappeared into one of the by-lanes.”
The victim was probably a participant in the armed Adivasi procession in demand of Scheduled Tribe status that had turned violent and damaged private and public property, including cars.
As the police began dispersing the tribals, angry local mobs chased down the stragglers among them. Adivasi men, women and children were dragged across streets and mercilessly beaten up with the police refusing to intervene. The violence left some 300 injured and a 12-year-old boy dead. 
The ethnic conflict claimed a second life this morning. Santosh Kumar, 17, was dragged out of a vehicle on a highway for “defying” an Adivasi-enforced bandh that was yet to begin, and hacked to death.
Chief minister Tarun Gogoi announced the arrests of the trio who had stripped the woman and offered the victim Rs 1 lakh in compensation. Prasenjit Chakravarty, Sandip Chakdar and Ratul Barman were nabbed on the basis of video footage and eyewitness accounts.
Ratul, a waiter at Mahalaxmi Hotel in Beltola, is barely 18. The main accused is Prasenjit, 28, owner of Dainty Fast Food restaurant in the same locality. Sandip, 20, owns a paan shop near the hotel where Ratul works.
The charges against them range from outraging a woman’s modesty to attempt to murder. 
Gogoi announced a judicial probe into the violence by the All Adivasi Students’ Association of Assam as well as the mob backlash. The state government has announced a compensation of Rs 3 lakh for the families of the dead.Ram Dhar <ramdhar at hotmail.com> wrote:

infact it did happen ..Please note - you may find this video content very very disturbing.Really shocked to see this happening in our Gauhati.    CNN-IBN video- http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/53043/guwahati-residents-strip-beat-up-women-protestors.html

Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 15:10:55 -0600From: assamrs at gmail.comTo: assam at assamnet.orgSubject: [Assam] Mob strips woman protester in Guwahati - Times of India
This news, IF TRUE, is a darn shame, and if it is NOT, then we should all join hand in vehemently protesting to the TOI, and demand that the publish clarifications prominently and apologize to Assam & her people. 

--Ram

Mob strips woman protester in Guwahati27 Nov 2007, 0001 hrs IST ,TNNSMS NEWS to 58888 for latest updates  

GUWAHATI: Like in most bandhs and protests, poor adivasi workers from the once lush tea gardens of Assam did dent business and damage some property as they marched through Guwahati to demand inclusion in the Scheduled Tribes list which will help them get easier access to education and jobs. But it was one adivasi woman who bore the brunt of the anger of local residents. She was attacked, her clothes were ripped off and a mob chased the naked woman along the streets. Ducking from prying eyes and TV cameras and terrified by screams of a mob chasing her, the woman ran until some other residents rescued her on Saturday and gave her clothes and cover both from the lathi-wielding police and the assailants. Two days later, after the protests spiralled as news of the attack on the woman got out, Assam's CM Tarun Gogoi said he was enraged by the crowd behaviour and police said three of the assailants had been arrested. He announced a Rs 1 lakh compensation for the woman, whose identity was not disclosed. "I am horrified by the incident. I cannot believe how people can be so inhuman and barbaric. Everybody seems to have lost their sense," said Gogoi on Monday. The CM also announced a judicial inquiry into Saturday's violence. Police said three men were picked up from their houses early Monday. They were identified as Prasenjit Chakravorty (28), owner of a fast food joint, Ratul Barman (18), a hotel waiter, and Sudip Chakdar (20), a pan shop owner. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Sibu Soren, who has pitched in for Assam's adivasi migrants, said the incident demonstrated the racial hatred for tribals. "I have also led many agitations, but never had we targeted women. Adivasis across the country are always looked down upon and do not get the respect they deserve from people and the government as a whole," Soren said on Monday after visiting injured protesters. Former Jharkhand CM Babulal Marandi also waded in as the bandh took a tribal vs non-tribal hue. He flew into Guwahati Monday afternoon and went straight for a press conference with the main opposition party Assam Gana Parishad (AGP). "This is a conspiracy hatched by Congress government," he charged. Although Guwahati remained largely peaceful in the last phase of the 36-hour protest that began on Saturday, the stripping incident gave it a new impetus in many areas where the sponsors, the All Adivasi Students' Association of Assam, had clout. Sporadic violence was reported and bandh supporters attacked one vehicle at Karigaon in Kokrajhar district, killing one person and injuring two others. So far, at least six people have been killed in clashes between adivasi activists and local people. About 250 people have been injured in police action or clashes. 

Share life as it happens with the new Windows Live. Share now! _______________________________________________assam mailing listassam at assamnet.orghttp://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org

“In order to make spiritual progress you must be patient like a tree and humble like a blade of grass”
- Lakshmana

Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 18:21:43 +0000From: biku006 at yahoo.co.inSubject: A request.To: absarangapani at hotmail.com
Dear Ms.Alpana,
I would thank you if you could scan the Telegraph page where they did published the most horrifying nude women beating and running scene.
I did prepared my formal PIL to the President of India,PM, Chairperson NCW, Tarun Gogoi etc.so need a print of that particular page to add the value.
I am trying, but none given me so far...Its not my cause, but for the whole as assamese and our womens justice.We need be aware of Media who talks against us.
Please mail me tomorrow.
Regards.
 Dr.Bikash K. Das 

Messenger blocked? Want to chat? Here is the solution.
_________________________________________________________________
Connect and share in new ways with Windows Live.
http://www.windowslive.com/connect.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_Wave2_newways_112007