Guwahati:
As the Assam Police investigates the case of the death of a woman in Lakhimpur, the Democratic Students' Organisation (DSO) has called for a 12-hour bandh in the district today.
Initial reports said that the 30-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped in an autorickshaw and thrown out of it on Friday, but the post-mortem report has ruled it out. The report says that the woman died because of the injury the right side of her body, including the head, after the fall from the auto.
Whether she fell out because of a sudden brake or whether she was pushed out is still being investigated. The police says they are not ruling out murder.
No arrests have been made yet, but the police has detained three people. The auto driver is not among them.
There have been angry protests in Assam over the woman's death. People who saw the woman fall out of the vehicle took her to a local hospital. From there she was taken to a Guwahati hospital she died of her injuries on Sunday.
Women activists are demanding arrests and punishment for those responsible.
"This heinous act reminds us of the Nirbhaya (Delhi gang-rape) episode. A year has not yet passed, and now, a similar incident has happened," said Nirmala Samant, a member of the National Commission for Women, which has sent a notice to the Assam police on the case.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has ordered an inquiry and is "personally monitoring" the situation.
"We have zero tolerance towards crime against women... have constituted a Special Investigation Team to look into the investigations, hoping investigations would be completed in a month. Would like the case to be taken up by fast track courts," he said.