AIZAWL: Bru
Democratic Front of Mizoram (BDFM) member Lochiram Reang has been
sentenced to life imprisonment by a court here for abducting five
persons in 2013.
Additional district and sessions judge,
Aizawl district, in his order yesterday said the convict deserved harsh
punishment for his act against fellow human beings and sentenced him to
rigorous imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs 10,000. 38-year-old
Reang and other members of the (BDFM), backed by the NLFT militants, had
abducted five persons working under the Mizoram Environment and Forests
department within Dampa Tiger Reserve near Bangladesh border on
February 19, 2013. Reang was arrested by the Mizoram Police on April 16,
2013 from the Asapara relief camp, the second largest of the six Bru
relief camps in North Tripura district.
Eight others involved in the abduction
were still at large. The court held Reang guilty under section 364 (A)
of the IPC (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) on March 4 and
announced the sentence on Tuesday. There had been ten incidents of
abduction in Mizoram since 2011 till date in which a total number of 38
people were kidnapped, and except for a single case of kidnapping at
Mizoram-Assam border Kolasib district, all the abductions occurred in
Mizoram-Bangladesh-Tripura border Mamit district by the BDFM and NLFT
combine who held their hostages inside the Bangladesh jungles.