Assam Congress demands judicial inquiries into deaths of Junmoni Rabha & Indrani Tahbildar

Guwahati, Sept 23: The Assam Congress has demanded high-level judicial inquiries into the deaths of sub-inspector Junmoni Rabha and former BJP Kisan Morcha leader Indrani Tahbildar, accusing the BJP government of neglecting women's security in the state.

Senior Congress spokesperson Abdul Khalek made this call during a press briefing at Rajiv Bhawan on Tuesday, urging the government to prioritise resolving these cases.

“The BJP government shows little interest in safeguarding women’s security and is very selective. We demand a high-level judicial inquiry into the deaths of these two women,” said Khalek.

He further expressed concern over the delayed resolution of Rabha’s case and urged the government to prevent the Assam Police officials under departmental inquiry from participating in major investigations.

“The CBI has named certain officials in Rabha’s case. Until the inquiry is completed, these officers should not be involved in any major investigations to avoid the possibility of evidence tampering or destruction,” Khalek added.

Khalek also criticised Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, alleging that Sarma's lack of response to Rabha’s death stemmed from her being part of an indigenous community.

“It’s been several days, yet the Chief Minister has not visited Rabha’s grieving mother or Tahbildar’s family. As both the Chief Minister and Home Minister, it’s his duty to at least visit these families once,” he said.

The Assam Police had earlier launched a departmental inquiry on September 22 against nine officials, following the CBI’s concerns over possible evidence tampering in the Rabha case.

Meanwhile, Bedabrata Bora, Chairman of the Media Committee of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC), hit out at the BJP’s ongoing membership drive, particularly its activities in schools.

Bora condemned the saffron party for involving students in the drive, showing a picture of an alleged BJP membership campaign in front of Radha Govindo Barua College in Fatasil Ambari.

“This is unfortunate. If youth, aged 18 or above, want to join the BJP, that’s their choice, but educational institutes should not be venues for political campaigns,” Bora said.

In another announcement, Khalek revealed that the Congress will soon launch a monthly mouthpiece this year. “Our 12-member committee has decided to publish a monthly mouthpiece starting this year. We’ll soon reveal the details. Assam Congress demands judicial probes into deaths of Junmoni Rabha, Indrani Tahbildar,” he said.