Nagaon, July 10: Four persons, including a minor, were injured in a blast triggered by suspected Ulfa militants inside a cinema hall in the heart of Nagaon at 8 pm today.
Police said the suspected Ulfa rebels lobbed a Chinese-made grenade from the balcony of Krishna Cinema which was screening a Hindi movie, Shikaar, as part of its evening show.
The injured were identified as Amanul Haque (8), Bapan Ghosh (28), Abdulkalam Azad (25) and Abdul Khaleque. All of them were admitted to the Nagaon Civil Hospital. The condition of Khaleque is critical.
Police immediately cordoned off the area and the street wore as deserted look.
This is the third blast since April 3 inside cinema halls in Assam by suspected Ulfa cadre. Today’s blast sent a clear signal that the outfit was serious about enforcing the ban imposed by nine militant outfits of the Northeast on screening Hindi movies.
The first explosion that took place at Jeuti Cinema in Simaluguri in Sivasagar district left 20 persons injured. It was followed by a similar blast at Paradise Cinema in Tinsukia on June 9 injuring 25 persons. A timer device also went off near Lakhi Talkies in Sivasagar on April 5 when the hall was screening a Hindi movie.
Today’s blast was the first of its kind in Nagaon since the ban on Hindi movies came into effect on November 15 last year. On August 7 2003, insurgent outfits had clamped the ban on screening of Hindi films and production of local films and video albums imitating Hindi films in the entire Northeast “to fight against the invasion of hybrid Indian culture through Hindi films.”
Census report: The percentage of birth and death registration in Assam is surprisingly low, despite being made compulsory under the Registration of Births and Deaths Rules, says our Guwahati reporter.
According to the report of the director of census operations, Assam, the registration percentage of births is 52.11 per cent and that of deaths 26 per cent. Director of census operations, P. Hazarika, said the low registration percentage was due to lack of awareness. “The masses must be made aware to make this programme successful,” he added.
