The Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) has called for an idefinite bandh in Kokrajhar district of Assam to protest against the arrest of a state legislator from their party for his alleged role in the recent ethnic clashes in the state. In anticipation of violence, the police have imposed an indefinite curfew in Kokrajhar.
MLA Pradeep Brahma, who represents the Kokrajhar (West) constituency, was arrested after a midnight crackdown on Thursday. Police say he has been named in seven cases by riot victims and that he was picked up only after these victims recorded their statements before a magistrate.
The MLA was charged under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons, 149 (unlawful assembly), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance), 427 (causing damage), 379 (theft) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC.
The rail blockade was lifted after 12:00 noon with train services resuming.
Soon after his arrest, the district administration imposed an indefinite curfew in Kokrajhar district from 5 am yesterday. But hundreds of BPF supporters defied the curfew and came out on the streets and blocked railway tracks several places including Kokrajhar railway station, demanding Brahma’s immediate release.
Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri districts in western Assam have been hit by ethnic clashes between Bodos and Bengali-speaking Muslim settlers from July 19. As many as 77 people have been killed in the violence and over four lakh people displaced.