india

Updated: Jul 04, 2019 18:20 IST

A court here on Thursday awarded life term to four and four years jail to two of the accused in the Dhemaji blast case, 15 years after the bombing carried out by the ULFA killed 17 people, including children, on Independence Day.

“Six accused have been convicted today. Four of them have been awarded life sentence while two have been sentenced to four years. Eight others have been acquitted,” said VV Rakesh Reddy P, superintendent of police in Dhemaji, adding, the main accused Rashid Bharali remains absconding.

On the morning of August 15, 2004, as children and some parents gathered to celebrate Independence Day, a bomb went off in Dhemaji College situated on the North Bank of the Brahmaputra river.

According to Reddy, 17 people, including several children, were killed and many more sustained injuries. Banned ULFA was said to be behind the blast.

“The verdict has finally been given. I was expecting the court will sentence the accused to death and they will be hanged. But that is not the case,” said Rajkumar Taid, whose 11-year-old son Siddharth Taid was one of the victims.