BRUTAL ACTROCITIES ON BODOS : 20 MARCH 1988 # BHUMKA RAPE CASE

• Brutal Actrocities on Bodos: 20 March 1988 #Bhumka_Rape_Case.

This blood-spattered incident had occurred in the late 1988. One of the darkest pages in the history of Bodoland movement is the incident at No. 12 Bhumka in Kokrajhar district of Assam. In their report to Amnesty International, Presidents of All Bodo Students Union and All Cachar-Karimganj Students Association stated that 9 (nine) Bodo Girls and one old woman at No. 12 Bhumka village in Kokrajhar district of Assam were gangraped by the Assam Police (AP) and Assam Police Task Force (APTF) on the nights of 25th and 27th January of 1988. In fact, rape by the police forces had become so much common during the Bodoland movement that Pramila Rani Brahma, the then President of ATWWF doubt if any Bodo dominated village has escaped the ravages. At the patronage of the Assam government, some Assamese miscreants in connivance with the Assam police forces committed massacres at Gohpur in August and at Rangapara in May, 1989 under Sonitpur district, Simlaguri under Lakhimpur district in August, 1989, Kairabari, Bhakhatpara and Phaorupeta under Dorong district in August, 1989. In those incidents more than 300 innocent Bodo women and children were butchered and over 10,000 Bodo houses were burn down to ashes.[11] More than 15, 0000 Bodo people were settled in relief camps without government relief, rehabilitation and medical care. According to the report of ABSU to the then Prime Minister of India (V.P. Singh), over 200 Bodo inmates died out of starvation and another 93 Bodo inmates died due to lack of medical care in Gohpur itself. However, there are differences of opinion regarding the number of victims in every incident. But there is no doubt that a huge number of people lost their life during the Bodoland movement. According to the record of All Bodo Students Union, at least 1135 Bodo people had lost their life during the Bodoland movement from 1987-93. Controversial Acts like Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987, Assam Disturbed Areas Act, 1955 and Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 were imposed in the Kokrajhar district of Assam where Bodoland movement was gaining its momentum[12]. Large number of the innocent people became the victim of fake encounter while many other were beaten brutally leading to the lost of their eyes, legs, hands and so on. Thousands of the innocent Bodo people were sent in jail and tortured there. But no compensation was made to the victims and their families. Atrocities in the name of enforcing law and order in the state still exist in Bodoland Territorial Council region of Assam. For a lasting peace in the region the root causes of the Bodoland movement must be explored and economic backwardness of the region should be addressed at the earliest. End Note: [1] Ghanshyam Shah, ‘Social Movements in India: a Review of Literature’, Sage Publication, New Delhi, London,2009, P-19 [2] Ibid, p-20 [3] B. Kumar Basumatary, ‘Social Mobility: From Tribalism to Indianism: The Bodos: The Aboriginal people of Eastern India’. , Onsumoi Printers, Kokrajhar, 2008, P-3 [4] Rev. Sydney Endle, ‘T he Kacharis’, Low Price Publications, Delhi-110052, 1997 P-3 [5] B. Kumar Basumatary, , ‘Social Mobility: From Tribalism to Indianism: The Bodos: The Aboriginal people of Eastern India’. , Onsumoi Printers, Kokrajhar, 2008, P-235. [6] All Bodo Students Union, ‘Why Separate State of Bodoland: Demand and Justifications’, p-22 [7] Ibid, p-23 [8] Hira Charan Narzinary, ‘Reassertiveness of the Great Bodos’, Calcutta-700009, 2000, Pp-95-96 [9]All Bodo Students Union, ‘Why Separate State of Bodoland: Demand and Justifications’, p-7 [10] Hira Charan Narzinary, : ‘Reassertiveness of the Great Bodos’, Calcutta-700009, 2000, P-95. [11] Bidyasagar Narzary, ‘Upendranath Brahma: Jiu arw Sansri’, Chirang Publiication Board, Chirang, Assam, 2007, p-97. [12] Bidyasagar Narzary, ‘Upendranath Brahma: Jiu arw Sansri’, Chirang Publiication Board, Chirang, Assam, 2007, p-107 Bibliography: 1. All Bodo Students Union, ‘Why Separate State of Bodoland: Demand and Justifications’, Kokrajhar, Assam. 2. All Bodo Students Union, ‘Devide Assam Fifty- Fifty’, Kokrajhar, Assam. 3. Arundhati Roy, ’The Greater Common Good’, 1999. 4. Basumatary, B. Kumar: ‘Social Mobility: From Tribalism to Indianism: The Bodos: The Aboriginal people of Eastern India’. , Onsumoi Printers, Kokrajhar, 2008. 5. Endle, Rev. Sydney: ‘T he Kacharis’, Low Price Publications, Delhi-110052, 1997. 6. Narzary, Bidyasagar ‘Upendranath Brahma: Jiu arw Sansri’, Chirang Publiication Board, Chirang, Assam, 2007. 7. Narzinary, Hira Charan: ‘Reassertiveness of the Great Bodos’, Calcutta-700009, 2000. 8. Shah, Ghanshyam, ‘Social Movements in India: a Review of Literature’, Sage Publication, New Delhi, London, 2009.