Assam court ends two-decade wait with conviction in 2005 Dhubri assault case

A protracted criminal trial dating back more than twenty years concluded on December 9 as the Court of the Additional Sessions Judge, Dhubri, delivered its judgment in Sessions Case No. 110 of 2014. The ruling closed a case arising from a violent assault reported on August 17, 2005.

The court, presided over by Additional Sessions Judge Syed Burhanur Rahman, found Ali Akbar guilty under Section 304 Part II of the Indian Penal Code, determining that he caused the injuries that led to the victim’s death. He received seven years’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000. Failure to pay will attract an additional three months’ rigorous imprisonment. The three months and three days he spent in custody as an undertrial will be deducted from the sentence under Section 428 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The case began when informant Samjad Ali lodged an FIR on August 20, 2005, alleging that a group of men attacked the victim with weapons including a lathi, fala and sabbal. Investigators filed a chargesheet in December 2008, charges were framed in June 2014, and the matter went to trial later that year. The court reserved its judgment on 3 December 2025 after years of intermittent hearings.

Five other accused — Moslem Hoque, Amzad Ali, Jahirul Hoque, Jahira Bibi and Tahima Bewa — were acquitted. The judge held that the prosecution failed to present reliable and consistent evidence linking them to the assault, noting that legal standards require the benefit of the doubt to be given when proof falls short.

The verdict brings formal closure to a case that has lingered in the justice system for more than two decades, underscoring ongoing concerns about delays in long-pending criminal trials.