Chakma body demands impartial probe into trooper's death

A social organisation working for the welfare of Chakmas in India on Saturday urged Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh for an impartial Court of Inquiry into the alleged custodial killing of Assam Rifles personnel Kamal Mitra Chakma in Nagaland.

The All India Chakma Social Forum (AICSF) said Chakma was brutally assaulted at his battalion headquarters at Jalaki in Nagaland on March 10 when he went to submit a leave application to visit home in Mizoram.

He was thrown out of the premises. "Some passers-by spotted him and handed him to Assam Rifles authorities, who admitted him to Jorhat military hospital in Assam. He died on Saturday (March 18)," said AICSF Deputy Secretary General Victor Talukdar.

He alleged that the behaviour of Assam Rifles officials and hospital doctors was suspicious since they claimed Chakma sustained injuries after a fall from a building. However, Talukdar said Chakma did not have head injuries but only suffered fractures in the leg, hand, and thigh.

The AICSF leader said Chakma, while undergoing treatment at the hospital, hinted to his parents that he was brutally beaten up by his colleagues.

The AICSF demanded a post-mortem at Dibrugarh Medical College or Guwahati Medical College to ensure impartiality in investigations and a Court of Inquiry by officials other than those of Assam Rifles battalions based in Nagaland.

--IANS

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