by Bhupen Goswami

Guwahati : :More than 15 years after the ULFA triggered a blast in the Dhemaji parade ground, killing 13 persons including 10 school children on August 15, 2004, the Court of District Sessions Judge, Dhemaji today convicted six accused, while eight others were acquitted. The investigators had filed the chargesheet against 15 accused, of which Rashid Bharali, the prime accused, is still absconding. Those convicted include Jatin Duari, Lila Khan, Dipanjali Gohain,, Muhi Handique, Hemen Gogoi and Prasanta Bhuyan.After the special court’s trial in the case of 2004 I-day blast in Dhemaji found eight of the fifteen accused not guilty, while a section of people including the victims and the bereaved kin decry investigation, voices against the acquitted accused who were earlier alleged to be operatives of ULFA-I are growing louder. Following the much-awaited judgment in the blast case that saw the murder of 17 school children leaving over 40 others injured, victims’ families alleged that “We have accepted the court judgment, but we are not happy with this judgment.” The last 14 years have seen the families of victims run from pillar to post. They’ve tried to get the wheels of justice move in their favour. Though there is a sense of justice being delivered, the families are far from satisfied. A Dhemaji court has delivered its final judgment on 2004 Dhemaji blast case on Thursday. Eight accused of the case have been acquitted by the court, while six have been declared as proclaimed offenders. They now look towards a stern inquiry on it and expect it to pronounce the harshest of punishments for all the fifteen accused of which one died. Almost fifteen years later, the wait for the blast victims’ families has finally come to end as a Dhemaji court has pronounced the verdict in the 2004 Dhemaji blast case today. Ahead of pronouncement of the verdict, the security has been tightened in and around the court. A total of 17 school children, including nine girls, were killed and 40 injured in the bomb explosion. The powerful blast took place at around 9:00 am on August 15, 2004, at the entrance of the Dhemaji College when the official I-Day celebration of the district was about to begin.