Court martial begins against major, jawans

Four months after Ajit Mahanta, a daily-wager from Kakopathar in Tinsukia district of Upper Assam, died under mysterious circumstances after having been picked up by security forces

Four months after Ajit Mahanta, a daily-wager from Kakopathar in Tinsukia district of Upper Assam, died under mysterious circumstances after having been picked up by security forces, the army has begun court martial proceedings against a major and two jawans involved in the incident.

The court martial has been taken up at Lohitpur in Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh at the instance of the 2 Mountain Division, which has its headquarters at Dinjan near Dibrugarh.

Major Nishant Sharma is facing charges of reportedly misleading the army authorities about the death of Mahanta in army custody after he was picked up on February 4. The two jawans of the 1/3 Gorkha Regiment were allegedly involved in Mahanta’s torture.

The court martial proceedings have already generated a lot of interest in the state in view of the fact that the custodial death had triggered off a massive protest against the Army, which led to the death of 10 persons in police firing five days later.