Panel puts Meghalaya Govt in the dock

An independent fact-finding body comprising of eminent journalists and academicians that investigated the events surrounding the incidents of police firing on peaceful demonstrators in separate incidents in Tura and Williamnagar in Garo Hills on September 30, 2005, has castigated the district administrations in both West and East Garo Hills. Meghalaya Government and the CRPF have also been held culpable in the incidents and its subsequent actions after the firings.

The Fact Finding Team, which included senior journalists, Sukumar Muralidharan and Rajashree Dasgupta and distinguished academicians, Prof Kamal Mitra Chenoy, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and Dr Bela Bhatia, Centre for Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi, had been constituted by the North East People’s Initiative (NEPI), a collective of activists and civil society organisation in the North East.

The report of the team which was released here recently by Dr Shubhram Rajkhowa, Faculty of Law, Gauhati University concluded that there is strong evidence that the firings were deliberate and pre-planned and that there was clear intent to use disproportionate force against the protesters. The police provided no opportunity for the protesters to disperse and did not seek recourse to widely practised non-lethal means of crowd control such as water cannon or a lathi charge.

Sukumar Muralidharan presented the findings of the team and formally released the report which states that “what took place in Tura and Williamnagar was not the mere dispersal of unlawful assembly but a premeditated act of political vendetta, carried out in complete disregard of the cost in human lives.

The team also came down heavily on the administration for its actions after the firing which it termed as “focused on absolving itself of any responsibility, rather than trying to secure justice” and had stalled the proceeding of Justice DN Choudhary Commission of Inquiry for Tura.

The team also observed that the people of Garo Hills had lost confidence in the fairness of Justice DN Baruah Commission of Enquiry for firing in Williamnager which has appeared to have demonstrated a clear bias towards the administration.

The fact finding team recommended that justice DN Baruah Commission should be removed and replaced with a judge who enjoys the trust of all parties for the Commission of Inquiry for Williamnagar. This commission should also be required to complete its work as soon as possible.

The Report also recommended adequate compensation must be paid to the injured and the families of those killed. The current compensation amount is a pittance and extremely inadequate.

It further said that the district administrations in the West and East Garo Hills should disclose the intelligence that constituted the basis for the decision to withdraw permission for the rally. The West Garo Hills administration should cease delaying tactics with the Tura Commission of Inquiry and provide full cooperation to Justice Chowdhury. The Commission should thoroughly investigate the incident on a priority basis and finish its work within a short time frame.

The team finally recommended that the Government of Meghalaya should suspend all moves towards restructuring the MBoSE until a mutually agreed solution for the Khasi and Garo student groups can be found.

John Leslee K Sangma, member, Garo Hills Autonomous District Council, asked, “why did the police allow the demonstrators enter the ground at Tura in spite of invocation of Section 144? He said that the firing was a part of a systematic human rights violation in Garo Hills.

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