FOR Assam lawmaker Rumi Nath, the honeymoon period of her second marriage, suddenly came to a violent end. The legislator along with her husband Jaki Jakir was beaten black and blue by a mob of 200 people at the state’s Karimganj town allegedly for bigamy and her conversion to Islam.
Thanks to news channels, the state, which was already reeling under severe floods, was shocked to see this brutality on this four-month pregnant MLA from Borkhola assembly constituency in Barak Valley.
Congress MLA Rumi Nath with her second husband Jaki Jakir address newsmen in Guwahati on June 30 The couple were beaten up and injured by a mob at Karimganj town in Assam on June 30 night.
Nath has been at the centre of speculation and controversy, when she simply disappeared in May only to reappear married to her Facebook friend Jakir. Nath’s personal life became a Bollywood potboiler with the media confirmed facts and unconfirmed rumours. The couple also added to this frenzy by uploading videos of their wedding on YouTube and pictures on Facebook.
“I have not committed any crime. I have no fear and am ready to face every situation,” she once boldly announced in Newslive, a local channel in Assam, after her second marriage. While the media made hay, there were many who raised questions about the legality of the marriage. Nath is reportedly not divorced from her first husband Rakesh Singh and is also a mother of a two-year-old daughter from her first marriage. This also supposedly did not go down well with her constituency.
The situation became so volatile that the 33-year-old Congress MLA was advised to stay away from her constituency by the police. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who is currently abroad, asked all ministers and legislators to go to their respective constituencies to oversee rescue and relief operations.
Following the directive, Rumi Nath also went to her constituency along with her new husband but under tight security. She reportedly faced angry crowds at relief camps on Friday but the security cordon managed to keep the MLA away from harm’s path. After her visit to the relief camps, Nath and her husband made the mistake of disregarding the advice of her security managers.
“The MLA and her husband went to Silchar a couple of days back. Few security personnel were given to her and she was advised to stay there,” Assam Director General of Police Jayanta Narayan Choudhury told Firstpost over telephone from Guwahati.
“But she did inform about her trip to Karimganj on Friday evening to the local police. Only close to midnight, the local police came to know that the MLA and her husband were severely assaulted and the police rescued her,” Choudhury said.
The couple was dragged out of their room by the mob at Hotel Nakshatra in Karimganj town and badly beaten up.
However, the DGP made it clear that a departmental inquiry is on to investigate the incident.
“The duty of her personnel security officers was to get her out of that situation. They did not do that. A departmental inquiry has been ordered. We must also note that in Assam security officers are mostly trained to tackle terrorists and militants and not mob violence,” he said.
“They had automatic weapons and using them would have certainly killed three or four people on the spot leading to even more violence,” the police chief said.
Saying that a case has been filed and few people were even identified, the DGP said it is difficult to understand mob behaviour.
“Mob mentality is very difficult to understand. An individual is totally different in behaviour than while he is a part of a mob,” Choudhury said while trying to decode this sudden and violent outburst.
The incident has suddenly shifted the attention from Nath’s controversial marriage to the assault by the all-male mob.
“It is unfortunate that it happened. People were angry with her misdeeds and their expression came out through violence against the MLA,” BJP legislator Prasanta Phukan told Newslive. Nath first got elected in 2006 with a BJP ticket and in 2011 with a Congress candidate.
Speaking to the media after she was escorted back to Guwahati, a bruised Nath told the media that the incident was “hundred percent politically motivated”.
“They even pulled my clothes and attacked me with broken glass. Had the police party been 15 minutes late we would have been dead. This was an attempt to murder. This has hurt my dignity not only as a MLA but also as a woman. Strict action should be taken against the guilty,” she said.
The Assam State Commission for Women has also taken strong note of the incident.
“We are viewing this incident very seriously. The Commission condemns this violent act against the MLA. We are planning for suo motu action against the guilty,” the Commission’s member secretary, Monidipa Sarma Borkataky told Firstpost over phone from Guwahati.
Incidentally, Rumi Nath became the first woman MLA to be physically assaulted while in office. Question is, will she be the last?
Congress MLA assaulted for converting to Islam
A woman Congress legislator Rumi Nath from Assam was thrashed by a mob at a hotel in Karimganj town late June29 night after she converted to Islam and married a Muslim friend, police said.
Rumi Nath and her husband Jacky Jakir, who were badly injured, were being shifted to the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital Saturday for treatment, police said.
Sources close to the legislator said she was pregnant.
Nath, who had won the Borkhola assembly seat in Assam's Barak Valley on a BJP ticket in 2006, had defected later and joined the Congress. She contested the 2011 assembly elections on a Congress ticket and retained the seat.
She married her friend and long time family acquaintance Jacky Jakir, a Muslim by faith, last month and it angered most of her supporters. She also converted to Islam before the marriage. She, however, did not divorce her first husband, Rakesh Kumar Singh and left the daughter from her first marriage in her parents' house.
After she revealed her second marriage, some of her supporters and social organisations in the Barak Valley warned her not to enter the area. The MLA had been out of the state with her second husband since then.
"The couple came to Karimganj last evening and were staying for the night at the Hotel Nakshatra. Angry residents somehow came to about the presence of Rumi Nath and her second husband and physically assaulted the duo. Although she had body guards and police reached the spot immediately, it became difficult to control the huge mob," Karimganj Superintendent of Police Pradip Pujari said.
"While we were able to rescue both of them, they have been seriously injured. Both the MLA and her husband Jacky Jakir are being shifted to Guwahati for better treatment Saturday morning," Pujari said.
"The situation has been contained as of now but we are keeping a close vigil so that it does not take any religious angle. Investigation is also on to find out the culprits involved in the incident on Friday night," he said.
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