Tura, May 25: NGOs from Garo Hills under the banner of Civil Society Organisations (CSO) have sought the intervention of Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma into the cases of assault and detention by Assam Police at Mallangkona Salbari, a disputed area, which took place on Monday. They also want the issue of police brutality with the Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

In a letter to the CM, the FKJGP, ADE, FAF and AYWO under the banner of CSO said the villagers of Mallangkona Salbari were not allowed to construct a godown in a school to store utensils, chairs and other items by Assam police on Monday. The Assam police team challenged the construction of the godown saying that the village falls under the disputed area, even though villagers told them that their construction work is within the village itself. This was followed by assault of the locals which resulted in injury to three women and six men. To make matters worse, CSO alleged that the All Rabha Students’ Union (ARSU) along with the Assam Police has detained a father-son duo and also seized their belongings and cash.

In the letter, CSO demanded a platoon of Meghalaya Police Mallangkona Salbari to act as security to allow uninterrupted construction of community godown in Mallangkona Salbari at the Mallangkona Salbari L. P. School cum Mallangkona Baptist Church, as well as to deter Assam Police from further aggression in the area. It has also demanded compensation for victims (3 women and 6 men) of Mallangkona Garojan village who were subjected to police high handedness, besides finding out the whereabouts of the father-son duo of Solendro Sangma and his son Randel Marak and their belongings (5 cows and Rs. 90,000 cash) and getting them safely to their home unconditionally. It has also sought legal action against the ARSU and the Assam Police.

“The residents of Mallangkona Salbari village have laid out construction works for a community godown for storing utensils and chairs & tables at Salbari L.P. School cum Salbari Baptist Church however, on the 23/05/2022 at around 10am-11am a group of Assam police showed up at the spot and harassed the workers asking them to stop the construction of the community godown on the pretext that no new development is allowed in the land as the land falls under dispute between the two states. However, it may be mentioned that neither the MOU has been finalised as it still requires the assent of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) nor does any state have the power to overrule the individual’s/community’s right to property and the said land is owned by the villagers who are a group of individuals. The action of the Assam police can thus be deemed only as harassment to demoralise the resolve of the people of Mallangkona Salbari from desiring to join Meghalaya state rather than Assam,” CSO said while giving details of the incident.

CSO said there have been three different instances of harassment of the villagers of Mallangkona on May 23, 2022 by the Assam Police and also accused the All Rabha Students’ Union (ARSU) of siding with the police by detaining two villagers.

The conglomeration of NGOs said Assam Police came in three jeeps to Mallangkona Garojan village, with the men in uniform allegedly in inebriated condition, and assaulted the people of the place, injuring three women and six men.

Apparently, the Assam police had come to the village based on a complaint by some individual related to their personal matters but when inquiring on the issue the Assam police saw one elderly woman who was holding a ‘sickle’ as she was coming from her work in the paddy fields and assumed her as a threat and started physically assaulting her and, when other villagers came to her rescue, police started assaulting everybody indiscriminately.

“One fails to understand how a team of police (three jeep loads to be precise) can be intimidated by an elderly women who was only carrying a sickle for her work if not for the allegations that the police were all drunk,” CSO said.

They also accused the ARSU of joining the bandwagon and harassing the people living in Mallangkona area by different means.

“It is a known fact that due to bad road connectivity from the side of Meghalaya and also due to the geographical location of Mallangkona village, the people of the adjoining villages have to go to markets of Assam to meet their daily needs and other necessities. Thereby, making the people of this villages vulnerable to the different agents of Assam and one such agent is the All Rabha Students’ Union (ARSU) who along with the Assam Police has on the 23/05/2022 detained a duo of Father and Son namely Solen Sangma (father) and Ranbel Marak (son) and their five cows which they have purchased from Duphdura Market along with cash of Rupees 90,000/- (Rupees Ninety Thousand only),” the NGOs said.

The CSO said the whereabouts of the father and son and their belongings was unknown till their writing of this letter.

Police brutality to target dissenting voice against Assam – Meghalaya border MoU 

The NGOs also claimed that these incidents are to target those opposed to the MOU signed by Assam and Meghalaya.

“These incidents may appear random if not scrutinized properly, and on deliberation it can be realized that the Assam Govt. is strategically targeting those people and villages who are objecting the transfer of land from Meghalaya to Assam under the MoU signed between the two states by means of harassment and arbitrary arrest/detainment by the assets of the Assam Government (in these cases Assam Police and the ARSU). We would like to remind the Chief Minister of Meghalaya that though you have signed the MoU with Assam, the Ministry of Home Affairs has not given assent to the same yet and thus, the august appellation is duty bound to protect his subjects/citizens from unwarranted harassments,” the CSO said in the letter.

“We understand that the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Meghalaya is adamant on not reviewing the MoU on his own accord and upon which the people will respond in due time, however, it will not be wrong on anybody’s part to expect a little empathy if not compassion towards the people who rightfully express dissent,” the NGOs said.

Despite the constraints and CM’s stand on the MoU, the NGOs strongly urged the Chief Minister to carry forward his duties and obligations towards the people of Meghalaya an act audaciously in protecting his subjects from rogue forces of a different state.