Probe holds Tura firing ‘irresponsible’

Major Events Vol. 3 Issue No. 26

May 1-15, 2007

Probe holds Tura firing ‘irresponsible’

The Justice DN Chowdhury Commission report has held the district administration and the police responsible for the September 2005 police firing at Tura.But Justice (Retd) DN Baruah Commission in its report termed the police firing at Williamnagar as ‘just and proper.’

The two reports were tabled in the Assembly today by Chief Minister DD Lapang after nearly two years. The enquiries were commissioned to probe into the twin police firings at Tura and Williamnagar simultaneously. Nine people died and several were injured at the two places on September 30, 2005 in the twin police firings.

On that fateful day, people had gathered at Tura and Williamnagar to protest the government’s move to revamp the Meghalaya Board of Secondary Education (MBoSE).

Justice DN Chowdhury Commission’s report said that use of excess force by the district administration and the police led to the death of four innocent people, including a school student in uniform and several injuries at Tura.

Contrastingly, Justice (Retd) DN Baruah Commission found the actions taken by the administration at Williamnagar, as “just and proper”. Five people died at Williamnagar and scores were injured in the police firing there on that day.

“The gravest mistake was done by the police and security personnel in firing on the people, who were quietly retreating from the field. Those who were in charge of the field failed to act rationally, the magistrates and the police officers were acting without any direction and the security personnel being panic stricken resorted to indiscriminate firing,” the report said. “The security forces went berserk and conducted themselves in a recklessly irresponsible manner.”

“The security personnel fired from close range. When the people were moving away from the field, the security personnel started firing again on them,” Justice Chowdhury observed in his report.

The administration and the police were in total disarray and bewilderment, the report maintained. “The bullets hit the vital parts and above the waist of the victims. The use of lethal weapons was done casually and in indiscriminate fashion defying the fire discipline,” the report unearthed.

“The forces were there to maintain law and order and not to punish but to protect human life,” the report said. Altogether, 75 rounds were fired in the Chandmary field at Tura; the Commission revealed adding, all the injuries were caused from point blank range by use of lethal weapons like 303 rifle, INSAS 5.56 mm and 9 mm carbine.

The report noted that the materials on record unerringly lead to the conclusion that the quantum of force resorted to by the police was “unjustified and excessive.”

Meanwhile, Justice Baruah felt that the measures taken by the administration at Williamnagar were “just and adequate” and that there was no excess; adding: “the question of fixing responsibility does not arise at all”.

In fact, the Garo Students’ Union (GSU) and other NGOs were blamed in the report for spreading misconception and misunderstanding among the Garo people over the MBoSE issue. “The leaders spread misleading news that the Headquarter of MBoSE would be shifted to Shillong or it would be bifurcated in spite of repeated assurance from the administration including the Deputy Chief Minister that the government had no intention to disturb the structure of MBoSE,” the report noted.

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