Shoot-at-sight order in Assam's Dhubri amid communal unrest following Eid‑al‑Adha

With rising communal tension in Dhubri district of Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma issued a shoot-on-sight order during night hours. The communal tension began following a cattle head was discovered in a Hanuman temple on the day after Eid‑al‑Adha. Then an unrest was triggered when mob activity of stone pelting and attacks on vendors and e‑rickshaw drivers started to occur.

The state administration imposed prohibitory orders and deployed additional security personnel, including the Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), to control the situation. The authorities took preventive measures like imposing a semi-curfew and throwing tear gas to disperse the mob.

"I visited Dhubri and directed law enforcement officers to follow zero tolerance against elements who desecrate our temples, namghars (prayer halls), and sacred spaces. The incident of throwing beef at the town’s Hanuman Mandir should have never happened, and those involved won’t be spared," said Assam Chief Minister in a post on X.

Sharma claimed that a ‘communal group’ is trying to prompt violence, and they want to disturb the native Hindus so that they will be forced to move away from the land.

Peace committees comprising members from both the Hindu and Muslim communities were formed to ease tensions and foster dialogue. The administration also seems sceptical about the possible cross-border influence to disturb the religious peace by planting cattle heads.

Dhubri’s socio-political landscape has witnessed several communal flare-ups in past. Most notable was the 2014 Bodo-Muslim clash. Around 33 people were killed, making it one of the deadliest conflicts in the region. Tensions were also ripe when Haris Farooqi, allegedly the ISIS India head, and his associate were arrested near Dhubri. This place had been a bastion of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), a political party led by Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, who has been the Member of Parliament from Dhubri since 2009 till 2024. He was later defeated by Rakibul Hussain of the Indian National Congress in 2024.

Dhubri consist of a high concentration of Bengali-speaking Muslims (many of whom have long faced allegations of “illegal immigrants” from present-day Bangladesh). So the Chief Minister's rhetoric of including cross-border influence without probing hints at “detecting and deporting illegal immigrants”. Even though the sequence of events, official rhetoric, and communal history of the area bear a hallmark of deliberate provocation, no evidence is present of a state-led conspiracy.