Arabinda Rajkhowa and Pradip Gogoi

Guwahati, July 30: Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and vice-chairman Pradip Gogoi were among the six persons acquitted today by a Tada court in a case related to the killing of a five-year-old girl in Guwahati in 1991.

Advocate Bijon Kumar Mahajan, who represented Rajkhowa and Gogoi in court, said they were given the benefit of doubt.

Designated Tada court judge H.C. Sarma in his order said the prosecution had failed to substantiate and prove its case against the accused persons beyond all reasonable doubt and, therefore, all the accused persons were entitled to be accorded the benefit of doubt.

Five-year-old Shabnam Kalita was travelling with her father Lachit Kalita, a Congress leader, in a Maruti van on August 23, 1991, when they were ambushed by suspected Ulfa rebels at Durga Sarovar here around 7pm.

In a bid to assassinate her father, the assailants lobbed a grenade and indiscriminately fired at the car. Though Kalita had a narrow escape, his daughter died in the attack.

A case (number 27/1991) was registered by police in this connection at Jalukbari police station under Sections 302, 427 and 341 of IPC, Sections 3 and 4 of Explosive Substances Act and Sections 3 and 4 of Tada.

Following investigation, the police filed a chargesheet against 10 accused in the case on May 15, 2001.

Of the 10 accused, Arabinda Rajkhowa, Pradip Gogoi, Bidyut Saikia, Anadar Thakuria, Bikash Khaklari and Moinul Haque alias Moon Ali were acquitted today while two other accused — Akon Baishya and Dhruba Talukdar — died during the course of the trial.

Two more accused — Ulfa commander-in-chief Paresh Barua and general secretary Anup Chetia — were declared as absconders in this case.

Coming out of the court, Rajkhowa said Ulfa had never intentionally killed any innocent civilian.

In his order, the judge said, “Upon full and complete appraisal of the evidence on record, in my opinion there may be some element of truth in the prosecution case. But considering the prosecution case as a whole, it falls substantially short of the standard of proof, which is required in a criminal trial.”

He added that though the case was ugly and reprehensible, given the fact that it involved the gruesome death of a five-year-old girl, suspicion on the accused, however great, could not replace legal proof.

The judge said moral conviction did not amount to legal conviction.

Lawyers Arshad Choudhury, Pranab Das and Nayanjyoti Das assisted advocate Mahajan in the case.