Assam Court Hands Death Penalty, After 4 Years Trial, To Man Who Killed Student

In a landmark judgment, a district court in Dhemaji, Assam, on Thursday awarded the death penalty to a man convicted of murdering a young woman in 2021 after she rejected his marriage proposal.

The convict, Rintu Sarma, an employee of Moridhal College, brutally attacked college student Nandita with a machete on August 21, 2021, near the Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) bus stand in Dhemaji. Nandita sustained multiple stab wounds and succumbed to her injuries four days later at a private nursing home in Dibrugarh.

The attack also injured another student, Kashmina Dutta, and her father, Deba Dutta, who were targeted when they tried to intervene. Following the assault, Sarma surrendered himself to police.

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Over the course of a four-year trial, police submitted a 400-page chargesheet, and as many as 41 witnesses testified. On Wednesday, Judge Kalyanjit Saikia of the District and Sessions Court convicted Sarma under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including:

• Section 341 (wrongful restraint)

• Section 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt)

• Section 307 (attempt to murder)

• Section 302 (murder)

While delivering the sentence, the court noted that the crime fell under the “rarest of rare” category. The judge observed that life imprisonment would be inadequate in serving justice, ordering that Sarma be “hanged by the neck till death” for the offence of murder under Section 302 IPC.

The case has reignited conversations on gender-based violence, rejection-related crimes, and women’s safety, with many calling for stronger preventive measures alongside harsher punishments.

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