TURA, July 7: A huge protest rally is going to take place today in Dainadubi of North Garo Hills organised by almost all social and student organisations from the region to strongly condemn the cruel assault on a Garo woman by police from Dudhnoi police station of Assam that took place on 4th of July.
The woman Mousmi Momin, who happens to be a mother with several children, was targeted by police because her husband, Sengkal R Marak, failed to pay a huge amount of money demanded by a coal exporter who blamed him for a financial loss in coal that took place last year.
She was beaten with sticks and cable wires and left in severe pain and multiple bruises after her husband was sent out to bring back Rs 20 lakh demanded by the exporter. The police even took away fifty thousand rupees she had in her purse for the admission of her children to college.
The assault and theft of her money by police personnel has led to a huge uproar and Goalpara district Superintendent of Police Rakesh Reddy has immediately placed under suspension two involved police personnel, including a woman police officer who assaulted Mousmi Momin. Criminal cases have also been registered against the two police officials by the district police.
The coal exporter Dhrubananda Choudhury of Assam had filed a police FIR in Dudhnoi station blaming Sengkal R Marak of Dainadubi, North Garo Hills, for the loss in revenue in the export of coal from Garo Hills after his consignment that was dumped in a jungle clearing was stolen by coal thieves in the month of February 2021.
To extract the money on the missing coal, the exporter had filed the complaint and police had summoned Sengkal to the station on Monday.
He was inside the Dudhnoi station with his wife when the police, allegedly in company of the coal exporter, demanded that Sengkal pay up Rs 20 lakh for the loss of the 29.30 tons of coal. Choudhury even claimed to have paid Sengkal Rs 90,000/- upfront for dumping the coal, which is something the victim has denied.
“I only showed him the area where he wanted to dump his coal after a ban took place on export of coal. I had nothing to do with his business. His coal consignment was kept in the jungle area unattended for months and thieves took advantage of that and carried away a large portion of it. Now he is blaming me,” says Sengkal.
Garo Hills organisations that have called for a mass protest rally are demanding stern action against the guilty police officials for outraging the modesty of a woman and a mother. They are also calling for the arrest and prosecution of the coal exporter who started the harassment on Sengkal and his wife over his own failed business venture.
