A couple days after Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi pledged to focus on ensuring security and welfare of women and girl child in Assam in the wake of ghastly Delhi-bus rape of a student and her subsequent death, a senior leader of his party (Congress) was Thursday arrested by Assam police on charges of rape.
The All Assam Students' Union on Tuesday organised demonstrations across Assam demanding steps to evict fundamentalist forces from the state.
The army in coordination with Assam Police has intensified operation against the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam along Assam-Meghalaya inter-state boundary areas in western Assam to prevent insurgents from sneaking into Assam from forest areas in Meghalaya's Garo Hills to carry out hit-and-run operation inside Assam territory.
Sixty-eight militants, 66 belonging to the banned United Liberation Front of Asom and two from All Adivasi National Liberation Army on Thursday laid down arms.
Congress Member of Legislative Assembly Rupjyoti Kurmi was allegedly assaulted by Central Reserve Police Force personnel on Friday when he had gone to inquire about the kidnapping and subsequent release of two garden labourers in Assam's Jorhat district.
The chief minister's statement came in the backdrop of tension between the two Northeastern states following alleged encroachment of land in Cachar district by the people of Mizoram.
'The Assam Rifles are supporting the Kuki-narco terrorists.'
The Central Bureau of Investigation has taken over the investigation of four distinct cases from the Assam police, all connected with the death of the state police sub-inspector Junmoni Rabha last month in a suspected road accident, according to officials.
Two persons died and three others went missing after alleged firing along the Arunachal Pradesh border in Assam's Dhemaji district on Monday, the police said.
The Mizoram police had lodged an FIR against Sarma and six officials under various charges including those related to attempt to murder and criminal conspiracy at Vairengte police station late on Monday after a gun fight between Mizoram and the Assam police. The FIR, however, became public on Friday.
Known as 'Sentinels of the North East' and 'Friends of the Hill People', the officers, drawn from the Army, and jawans have been fighting a war of nerves since the ethnic clashes between majority Meitei and hill tribe Kukis erupted on May 3.
Representatives of the Committee on Mass Protest against Assam Rifles organised sit-ins to protest against the paramilitary force's legal notice to Republican Party of India-Athawale national secretary Maheshwar Thounaojam for harming the "reputation of the organisation".
The Assam police on Friday arrested four men including an ULFA (anti-talks faction) militant for triggering grenade explosions in Lakhimpur town of eastern Assam on July 23.
The protesters torched tyres and old furniture in the middle of the road in Kwakeithel and Uripok, demanding the release of the leader. The situation remained tense on Sunday morning.
'It has been doing yeoman service for the people of the North East.'
22 Assam Rifles women personnel are in the Republic Day marching band contingent. Dressed in crisp uniforms, playing bagpipes, drums and side drums, the year-old band has already built an admirable reputation.
'Super Cop', K P S Gill has stirred the proverbial hornet's nest with his comment that the first martyr of the Assam agitation against illegal migrants, Khargeswar Talukdar, was not killed because of police action but drowned in a pond.
Following fresh incidents of violence in the communally sensitive Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District Council (BTC) areas, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Sunday asked the civil and police administrations to deal with the situation firmly and to ensure no recurrence of such incidents.
Each of Assam's border disputes has its own legacy of claims and counter-claims:
The bandh, called by Barak Democratic Front and supported by political outfits including opposition AIUDF and social organisations, was "total" and there was no report of any untoward incident from any district, another official said.
In the first-ever encounter between Maoists and the Assam Police, four hardcore rebels, including the head of their state armed wing, were killed in Tinsukia district on Wednesday.
No one, including the minister who was sleeping at the time of the explosion, was injured in the explosion that made mockery of the geared up security arrangements in the hill district.
Security personnel recovered one AK 56 rifle, two magazines, one grenade, a pistol and a cellphone from the slain militant identified as Rajib Saikia.
The bandh passed off peacefully with no report of untoward incidents from any parts of the state even as state government took elaborate measures to tighten vigil during the bandh period.
On the 83rd anniversary of the Quit India movement, Utkarsh Mishra recalls the conditions under which the Congress, led by Mahatma Gandhi, launched the final struggle for independence.
Jharkhand, led by Commonwealth Games gold medalists Lovely Choubey and Rupa Tirkey, dominated the lawn bowls competition at the National Games in Dehradun, winning three gold medals. The state's women's fours team defeated West Bengal in the final, while Jharkhand also secured gold in the men's pairs and women's U-25 singles events.
Mohit Hojai, a senior political leader of Assam hill areas and chief executive officer of North Cachar Hills Autonomous District Council, and Assam Social Welfare Department Joint Director R H Khan were arrested by police on Saturday for allegedly having links with insurgents.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa on Tuesday said that the Centre is likely to sign a peace accord with militant organisations from the state's Adivasi communities within September.
Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi said on Wednesday that the Maoists had been trying to set up base in Assam for the last three years to exploit the fluid situation in the insurgency-hit state, but in vain, thanks to alertness shown by the Assam police, a force with much experience in counter-insurgency operations.
Fourteen hardcore militants belonging to the proscribed United Liberation Front of Asom on Thursday gave up arms and surrendered, while an abducted junior engineer of Assam government was set free by militants.
A highly-placed defence source said a first information report was registered against COCOMI on July 10, after the outfit gave a call to people 'not to surrender weapons.'
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said he does not get 'intimidated' and fights for truth even if the world stands against it, remarks that come amid repeated confrontations between his party and the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in Assam during the 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra'.
The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has been awarded the highest number of police gallantry medals, 21, including two Shaurya Chakras, on the eve of Republic Day. A total of 95 bravery medals were awarded to personnel from state and central police forces, fire service, home guard, civil defence, and correctional services. The CRPF's medals included 11 for operations in Jammu and Kashmir, seven for anti-Maoist operations, and one for an operation in the northeast. The second-highest number of medals went to Uttar Pradesh (17), followed by Jammu and Kashmir (15), Chhattisgarh (11), and the Border Security Force (5).
A controversy erupted after a train with dilapidated and dirty coaches was provided to ferry Border Security Force (BSF) personnel from Tripura for deployment during the Amarnath Yatra in Kashmir, with Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw suspending four officials and ordering an inquiry.
As an IAS officer in Kerala, Gyanesh Kumar -- who the Congress described as Amit Shah's 'right hand man' -- had a good working equation with the state's Congress and Left leaders.
The prime minister told the MPs that the northeast is very close to his heart and his love for the region is very natural. Quoting Modi, Rijiju saidthe PM asserted that he doesn't look at the region from the prism of politics.
'Modi's charisma may have weakened as last year's Lok Sabha poll results showed but in the eyes of the Sangh Parivar, it has not waned.' 'Minus a strong BJP government at the Centre for another decade and more, there is apprehension that an anti-Hindutva government could reverse many of the ideological gains that the Modi dispensation has achieved through its three terms,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
A gang of 18 notorious Karbi poachers who were behind butchering of at least six rhinos in Kaziranga National Park over the past three years have been caught by the Assam police.
The Centre has summoned to New Delhi the chief secretaries and directors general of police (DGPs) of Assam and Mizoram for a meeting on Wednesday while the restive inter-state border was calm, a day after armed clashes left six dead and over 50 injured, officials said.
The mob was protesting against the death of suspected ULFA linkman Ajit Mahanta allegedly in army custody on Sunday.
