Dhemaji Blast: 4 given life imprisonment, 2 gets 4-year jail term

July 4: Justice was finally delivered in the 2004 Dhemaji parade ground blast case in which total of 17 school children, including nine girls were killed and 40 more were injured. After 15 years of this ruthless incident, the Dhemaji District & Session Judge Court on Thursday pronounced its judgment. A total of six out 15 accused persons were convicted.

The Dhemaji court of the District and Sessions Judge awarded life imprisonment to four convicts and two others have been sentenced to four years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs. 5000. The session court has convicted Jatin Duwori alias Rongmon, Leela Khan, Dipanjali Gohain, Muhi Handique and awarded them life jail with fine of Rs 10,000, while it has ordered 4- year rigorous imprisonment (RI) and fine of Rs 5,000 to Prasanta Bhuyan and Homen Gogoi.

Eight other accused who have been acquitted are Jaya Chutia, Min Baruah, Jiten Chutia, Apsara Baruah, Gobin Kalita, Jai Chandra Chutia, Chandranath Gogoi and Mohan Chutia.

The Dhemaji school bombing took place on the occasion of Independence Day in 2004 at Dhemaji College play ground. Most of the victims were schoolchildren aged between 12 and 14 and their mothers. However, the family members of the blast victims are not satisfied with the judgment, who demanded capital punishment for the culprits.