On Tuesday, one person was sentenced to death & 24 others given life imprisonment by a Court in Assam’s Jorhat in connection with the lynching of a 73-year-old doctor in 2019.

District & Session Judge Robin Phukan sentenced accused Sanjay Rajwar to death for murdering Dr Deben Dutta, a resident doctor of Teok Tea Estate hospital in Jorhat district in Aug 2019.

On Oct 12, the court had pronounced 25 of the total 32 accused in the case as guilty while acquitting 6 others. One accused had died during the trial.

After Tuesday’s verdict, a prosecution lawyer said that “Besides death sentence to one & life imprisonment to 24, the court directed all the 25 accused to pay a fine of Rs 1000 each, failing which they will have to undergo additional one month’s imprisonment".

An irate mob, mostly comprising tea garden workers, had assaulted Dr Dutta on Aug 31, 2019, holding him responsible for the death of a patient in Teok TE.

He was rushed to the Jorhat Medical College, where he was declared brought dead.

The pictures of the assault, which soon went viral on social media, created a sense of terror among doctors posted in tea gardens across Assam.

At least 7 doctors, who were working in tea gardens, had resigned within a week of Dr Dutta’s murder.

Police had arrested 32 people, including 3 brothers of the deceased patient, following the barbaric attack under various sections of Indian Penal Code & the Assam Medicare Service Persons & Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence & Damage to Property) Act, 2011.

The incident was condemned by Indian Medical Association (IMA) & doctors in Assam resorted to a one-day strike in protest. CM Sarbananda Sonowal had also ordered an inquiry into the incident.

The investigation into the case was concluded within a record time of 21 days & a voluminous 602-page charge sheet submitted on Sept 21, 2019.

According to Assam Police, this is the first case in the country where ‘witness identity concealment approach’ was used. A total of sixty people including tea garden employees, journalists, the doctor’s family members, police personnel & forensic experts were named as witnesses.

Of them, 56 deposed during the trial of the case. According to reports, 7 of the witnesses are being kept under a witness identity protection scheme. 

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