The Assam Government has decided to institute a judicial probe into the incidents of killing of a minor girl by militants in Chirang district of Assam’s Bodoland Territorial Areas Districts (BTAD) last week.
Assam Parliamentary Affairs Minister Nilamoni Sen Deka informed this to the House on Tuesday while replying to a question on behalf of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and added the Government would appr-oach the Gauhati High Court soon for the judicial probe.
It may be mentioned here that 16-year-old Priya Basumatary was shot dead by anti-talk faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) militants on August 20, suspecting her to be a police informer.
The gory killing, which took place in front of her parents, other villagers and some mediapersons, at Dwimuguri village under Runikhata police station in the district came a few hours after the security forces' killing of five militants in the village. The militants suspected that the girl had informed the police about the militants taking shelter in the village and had her later to avenge the killing of their comrades by security forces.
The Assam Chief Minister, who had announced that her name will be recommended for National Bravery Award and that the State would institute a Bravery Award in her name, however, clarified that she was not a police informer.
“She was just a brave school girl, who only fall victim to the militants’ violence,” Gogoi had stated earlier. Gogoi had earlier announced Rs 20 lakh as financial assistance to the next of kin of the deceased and directed the Assam Police to launch a massive manhunt to nab the killers of the brave girl.
On Monday, the Opposition parties in the Assam legislative Assembly had rocked the proceedings of the House demanding a discussion over the gory killing of the minor school girl and also over the recent violence in Golaghat district located along the Assam-Nagaland border and subsequent police atrocities on innocent civilians.