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 four and announced the sentence yesterday.
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.
