Tribal banker attacked in Assam

A tribal from Manipur’s Churachandpur working as manager of a public sector bank in Assam’s Hailakandi district was attacked and seriously injured on Wednesday.

Three persons from another community have been held, though the main accused is absconding, Assam police said. L Tun Khan Siam is in ICU with a head injury after being hit with bricks.

Police, however, clarified that the assault had nothing to do with the ethnic strife in Manipur, but stemmed from a spat one of the accused had with the manager over opening an account. Siam said in his FIR that he was shopping in the Lala area on his way back home from work when some persons started abusing him in English for his ethnicity and questioned why he was there. Siam said he ignored them and went to a nearby fish market.

However, the men followed him, blocked his road and started assaulting him. Siam said his cries for help drew a crowd, and the attackers fled. Some organisations from the community to which the attackers belonged have condemned the assault.