A local court in eastern Assam’s Golaghat district has sentenced two former MLAs and three others to two years in prison for assaulting a forest ranger inside the Kaziranga National Park more than a decade ago.
Additional district judge Kaushik Hazarika also imposed a fine of ₹5,000 each on Jiten Gogoi and Kushal Dowari, two of the five persons convicted in the 2009 assault case. The court prescribed an additional two-month jail if they fail to pay the fine.
The court sentenced them on Saturday under the provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act
Both Gogoi and Dowari were Independent MLAs from the Bokakhat and Thowra Assembly constituencies when they were accused of forcibly entering the national park with their companions for fishing illegally. When forest ranger Dharanidhar Boro tried to stop them from fishing, the MLAs and their companions allegedly assaulted him. The forest ranger later filed a police complaint against the five.
Dowari later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The five are on bail and will not have to go to prison immediately as their term is less than three years.
