Sept. 21: The Army Base Hospital at Basistha has come forward to take care of the three children of Dev Charan Bongjong, a washerman of the hospital, who was hacked to death by his wife on August 29.
That day, Dev Charan’s wife Minati, 37, killed him with a machete and drank his blood before setting the body on fire after an argument during lunch at their home. Dev, 40, suffered multiple wounds and died on the spot.
The couple’s three children — Jayanti, Joyoti and Dipanjoy are students of Classes VII, VI and IV of Army Public School in Basistha. They could not appear for their half-yearly examinations this time as their books were gutted.
According to Namita Nath, the landlady of the house, the family had been living in her house quite peacefully for the past 12 years. She said at present, Minati was undergoing treatment at Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi Regional Institute of Mental Health in Tezpur.
The incident shattered the family throwing the lives of the three children into uncertainty. There has been nobody from their father’s family to look after them. Dev, who was originally from Jharkhand, came to Assam when he was a child and had no connection with his birthplace.
In Assam, he lived with a Karbi family and took Bongjong as his surname. He used to graze cattle before getting the job of a washerman in the Army Base Hospital.
An official of the hospital said they were making all arrangements to provide free education to the children till they pass Class XII examination and ensure their father’s pension till the youngest of them attains 25 years.
“It will take a year to complete the official process. Till then, the staff of the hospital will offer financial support to the children by collecting money from among themselves,” the official said.
Since the murder, the children had been staying with the owner of the rented house.
The official said though they had some legal bindings to allot quarters for the children, somehow, on humanitarian grounds they could arrange one which would be available for them within this month.
