GUWAHATI — Senior
Congress leaders including the Assam unit chief Bhupen Borah were taken into
custody on Friday after they took part in a protest rally in Guwahati demanding
justice for the death of deceased Congress worker Mridul Islam.
Apart from Bhupen Borah, other leaders like Ripun Borah,
Uday Bhanu Chib, and senior spokesperson Ratul Kalita were also detained by the
police, disrupting the Congress party’s protest.
As per the latest information, the leaders were detained at
the 10th APBN in Kahilipara, Guwahati.
Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma ordered
a probe into Congress party worker’s death.
The 45-year-old Mridul Islam died on Wednesday after
participating in a Congress protest march to Raj Bhawan in Guwahati. The
Congress party has alleged that the police used excessive tear gas to disrupt
the protest and this was the reason behind Islam’s untimely death.
The state unit of the Congress party has lodged a complaint
against the local police, claiming that the police used excessive tear gas
shells which led to the passing away of Mridul Islam.
Islam was a member of the State Congress Legal Cell and a
lawyer by profession, according to the party.
The deployment of tear gas by the state police, according to
Assam Congress General Secretary Bipul Gogoi, was not only excessive but also
indiscriminate, affecting everyone in the vicinity, including the elderly,
children, and individuals with respiratory conditions and they did so without
any provocation.
According to the state Congress, Mridul Islam was among the
numerous demonstrators who sustained injuries due to police actions, and who
were already having difficulties as a result of the tear gas.
“It is clear that the actions of the Assam Police directly
led to his tragic death. This FIR is being filed to request that immediate and
strict action be taken against the responsible police personnel for their
excessive and unlawful use of force, which directly caused the death of an
innocent citizen,” Gogoi said in his complaint.
Diganta Barah, the Commissioner of Police in Guwahati,
refuted the claims by the Congress party, stating that the cause of Islam's
death was yet unknown.
