A clash broke out after local people retaliated to violence perpetrated by protesting members of the All-Adivasi Students Association of Assam (AASAA) along the busy Dispur-Basistha road.

Following the incident curfew was imposed in a part of Guwahati city as mob violence claimed at least one life and left as many as 200 persons injured near the Capital Complex. The toll is likely to increase as the condition of some of the injured was stated to be critical.

Kamrup deputy commissioner Avinash Joshi confirmed only one death and informed that as many as 200 injured persons had been admitted to Guwahati Medical College Hospital. He said the condition of many injured was critical.

Eyewitnesses, however, claimed that at least seven AASAA protesters were lynched and as many as 200 others were injured as angry public pounced upon Adivasi protesters, who had damaged over 300 cars on the road, hundreds of shops along Dispur-Basistha Road besides molesting unsuspecting women and girls on the road.

The police resorted to blank fire and lathicharge to disperse the mob even as curfew was clamped in the area behind State Assembly complex to Basistha Chariali on the National Highway bypass to bring the situation under control.

Chief minister Tarun Gogoi, while condemning the incident, called upon all sections of society to remain vigilant and maintain communal harmony.

State DGP R.N Mathur, who had rushed to the violence-affected area, said the AASAA had been given permission for holding a protest meeting in the city but not for taking out a procession along the busy Basistha-Dispur Road. He said security had been beefed up in the city through massive deployment of police and paramilitary forces following the incident and the situation had been brought under control.

Bus loads of Adivasi protesters had converged upon Bongaon High School campus in the Beltola area in the city this morning to take part in a demonstration to press for their demand for Scheduled Tribe status.

Locals said timely action on the part of the police could have prevented the situation from getting out of control. Thousands of Adivasi protesters took out a procession around noon on way to the Capital Complex. The agitators suddenly went berserk and damaged over 300 vehicles on the road, ransacked roadside shops and houses and misbehaved with women.

Later, as visuals of a tribal woman being stripped and assaulted on the streets of Guwahati drew nationwide revulsion, Assam government ordered a judicial inquiry into the clashes between adivasis and residents there and announced Rs one lakh assistance for her.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that the inquiry would go into the circumstances leading to the clash between tribals and local residents and all other related matters and the judge would submit its report within two to three months.

Assam Planning and Development Minister and former Assembly Speaker Prithvi Majhi, himself a tribal, described it as “very barbaric” the assault of tribal and the stripping of the woman.

Tribal students and tea garden workers, demanding Scheduled Tribe status, had gone on the rampage in Guwahati attacking shops and other business establishments triggering a clash with local residents. The violence left one dead and over 230 injured.

Tribal leaders from Jharkhand cutting across political parties condemned the assault on adivasis in Guwahati and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Sibu Soren demanded ST status for them in Assam.

Meanwhile, tribals killed a teenager, injured two others and set ablaze their vehicle in Kokrajhar and damaged several buses during the 36-hour Assam bandh called by All Assam Adivasi Students Association (AAASA)

The teenager identified as Santosh Kumar Prasad was stabbed to death and two others were seriously injured after miscreants set their vehicle on fire at 4:00 am at Amguri- Karigaon road in Kokrajhar district, official sources said.

Traffic in Kokrajhar district was scarce and long-distance buses on the national highway were escorted by the police.

Train and air services were normal in the state.

The bandh affected normal life in pockets around tea gardens but had no impact in the state capital where Adivasi protestors and people had clashed on Saturday resulting in the death of one person.

Five long-distance buses were damaged in stone-pelting overnight on the national highway in Rajabari tea estate area of Sibsagar district.

Protestors also pelted stones at buses in Rangamati and Chakalating areas of Golaghat district and in Sepon area in Sibsagar-Dibrugarh district border last night.

Life was affected in Jharkhand following a general strike called by various political parties and tribal organisations to protest clash in Assam.

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