Overview

• The Dhemaji District and Sessions Court issued the death sentence a day after convicting Sarma on multiple IPC counts, including murder and attempt to murder.
• Judge Ajay Faglu ordered death by hanging after finding the offence met the rarest-of-rare threshold.
• Nandita Saikia was attacked with a machete in Dhemaji on August 21, 2021, and died five days later, while her classmate Kashmina Dutta and her friend’s father sustained grievous injuries.
• Investigators registered Case No. 397/2021, filed a roughly 400-page chargesheet, and the court examined testimony from 41 witnesses during the four-year trial.
• The victim’s family, a survivor, and the prosecution welcomed the sentence, calling it a measure of justice for the brutality of the crime.