The Home Ministry on Sunday directed the NIA to not oppose the bail plea of nearly a dozen people arrested for their alleged links with Assam’s insurgent group Dima Halam Daoga-Jewel or DHD(J). Incarcerated for five years, these persons are now likely to be set free from jail soon.
The people, including a woman, were nabbed in 2009 following the arrest of DHD chief Jewel Gorlosa and were accused of helping the banned outfit by providing money, shelter and foreign currency. The outfit was demanding a separate state for Dimasa tribe in Assam.
A Home Ministry official said Gorlosa, who was arrested in Bangalore in 2009, and his deputy Niranjan Hojai, who was arrested in Nepal in 2010, were granted bail by a court in 2011 to facilitate signing of a peace agreement with the government. Garlosa and Hojai were given bail after investigating agency NIA did not oppose their plea despite being charged with Section 121 of IPC. However, their accomplices were slapped with minor charges, which will not invite more than five years of imprisonment, but continue to languish in Guwahati jail.
“Since they would complete five years in jail in June, there is no point keeping them in prison for further period. So, we have directed the NIA not to oppose their bail in court,” the official said. Over 400 members of the DHD(J) laid down arms on October 2, 2009 in the wake of arrest of their top leaders and agreed for peace talks with the Centre.
The DHD(J) outfit was active in North Cachar Hill district (now called Dima Hasao district) in Assam killing security personnel, halting works on multi-crore East West corridor project and railway gauge conversion project.