News Analysis India

Tag: Darrang district

  • ‘Unfortunate. Khun jameen par gir gaya’: HC on violence during Assam eviction drive

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court has directed the Assam government to file a detailed affidavit on the September 23 eviction drive in Darrang during which two persons were killed in police firing.

    Hearing two public interest litigations – one filed by the leader of Opposition, Debabrata Saikia of the Congress and another by the court taking suo motu cognisance of the incident, a division bench of Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Soumitra Saikia said it was unfortunate that blood spilled on the ground.

    “It is a tragedy. Lives were lost. Khun jameen par gir gaya (blood spilled on the ground),” the Chief Justice observed.

    Earlier, a viral video showed a photographer, engaged by the Darrang administration, stomping on an injured. The incident had triggered a country-wide outrage.

    Asking the State if it believes the National Rehabilitation Policy is not applicable in Assam, the bench directed the government to file a detailed affidavit within three weeks.

    In his petition, Saikia had stated that the people evicted were from marginalised and socio-economically disadvantaged sections, and they were compelled to migrate due to the state’s perennial problems of floods and erosion.

    His counsel advocate Chander Uday Singh expressed surprise when the Advocate General said the names of 60% of the people evicted were not on the list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

    Singh contested the AG’s claim, pointing out that the NRC list has not been published by the government yet.

    Meanwhile, the Congress hailed the court’s decision and action. “The incident of firing a lone protestor by more than 40 armed policemen and the subsequent violent action of a government-affiliated cameraman on the dead protestor shocked people all over the world,” Pradesh Congress’ media department chairperson Bobbeeta Sharma said.

    The Congress appreciated the court for seeking a detailed affidavit from the government and questioning it if the National Rehabilitation Policy was applicable in Assam or not.

    “The Congress contends that such incidents should never be a part of a civilized society. The party recognises and reposes its full faith in the judiciary and considers it the greatest strength in a democratic country,” Sharma added.

  • Assam eviction drive: Himanta hints at PFI role, says some people collected Rs 28 lakh from landless

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: The Assam government has got evidence about the involvement of certain individuals in Thursday’s violence in Darrang district during an eviction drive against land encroachers.

    Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the elements had mobilised people and created havoc. He said they had collected Rs 28 lakh from the poor and landless families of Darrang in the last three months saying that they would convince the government against eviction.

    “When they could not resist the drive, they mobilised people and created havoc. We have the names of six people with clear intelligence that Rs 28 lakh was collected,” Sarma told journalists in Guwahati on Saturday.

    He said prior to the day of the incident, the Popular Front of India had visited the site in the name of distributing food items to the evicted families.

    ALSO READ | ‘Where did 10,000 people come from?’: Assam CM Himanta on Thursday’s violence

    “The pieces of evidence are now emerging, indicating the involvement of certain people, including a college lecturer of Assam. The government is enquiring the matter,” the CM said.

    “The eviction drive was carried out for 60 families. Where did 10,000 people come from? I think we will get a lot more explosive information once the judicial probe begins,” he said.

    According to the government’s policy, a landless person gets six bighas of land in a village but on certain conditions, the CM said. He said he had told the leaders of All Assam Minority Students’ Union in two meetings that the government would go ahead with the eviction drive and sought a list of the landless people but it was not given.

    Giving an example of how serious the problem of land encroachment in Assam is, he said the amount of land under encroachment in the state was more than the size of Goa.

    He attacked the Congress for its criticism of his government on the issue. Either the Congress has not been able to understand the language of the Assamese or it has bidden adieu to the community thinking that it is, in any case, going to be a minority in 10 years and the votes of the Assamese will hardly have any value, Sarma said.

    He accused the Congress of “exporting” people to other constituencies to try and capture those seats by changing the pattern of population.

    “They (Congress) want to weaken the Assamese and India. Barchalla and Sipajhar Assembly seats are their next targets. The encroachers in Barchalla are from Dhing and Rupahihat constituencies,” Sarma claimed.

  • ‘Where did 10,000 people come from?’: Assam CM Himanta on Thursday’s violence

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma suspects the hand of a third party in Thursday’s violence during the eviction drive at Dholpur No 3 village in Darrang district.

    “The eviction drive was nearing its end and there was no problem till Wednesday. Only 60 families had to be evicted but 10,000 people swarmed to the site to put up a resistance. Where did they come from? Who brought them?” Sarma wondered.

    He said this was the reason why the government ordered a judicial inquiry, to be headed by a retired Judge of the Gauhati High Court, into the incident.

    He lamented that the incident occurred despite his assurance to the All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) that all the landless people would be provided with six bighas of land.

    “During a meeting with AAMSU leaders, I had told them that as per the government’s policy, every landless family will be allotted six bighas of land. I had also said that we cannot give land to those who own land elsewhere. They all accepted it,” Sarma said.

    He said some families were occupying land measuring up to 300 bighas. He said the land of even a Shiva temple was also under encroachment. “Do people grab the land of a temple? If this continues, the land of Kamakhya temple will be encroached tomorrow. How can we accept that?” Sarma asked.

    He condemned the act of the administration-engaged photographer, who had stomped on an injured and has been arrested since, but asked people to not judge the incident merely based on this short duration viral video. “I ask the Congress leaders to sit with me and watch the entire video footage. They will see how some 10,000 people came armed with sticks and spears and attacked the policemen,” Sarma said.

    He rejected the demand of the Opposition to suspend the Darrang District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police, who incidentally is his younger brother, saying, “They followed my orders”.

    ALSO READ | 2 killed during Assam eviction drive, CM says action came after armed encroachers attacked cops

    Earlier in the day, a Congress delegation from Guwahati visited Darrang and staged a protest outside the DM’s office.

    In a memorandum submitted to Governor Prof Jagdish Mukhi, the party demanded that the judicial inquiry be headed by a sitting judge of the Gauhati High Court. It also demanded that the eviction drive is kept in abeyance until an appropriate rehabilitation plan is made public.

    “The cameraman and the police personnel, who were stationed and took part in the whole barbaric act, should also be accorded exemplary punishment. Moreover, those deceased and those injured should be adequately compensated,” the Congress demanded.

    Further, it demanded an all-party meeting along with stakeholders to strategise and plan a rehabilitation and compensation programme for the people.

    “Congress party feels that the CM Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma despite holding a constitutional post, taking an oath to serve and protect all citizens has behaved in a biased manner by constantly giving provocative statements which have made matters worse. His statement of giving full authority to police to do encounter firing had also given license to kill and has dangers of turning Assam into a police state,” the memorandum reads.

    The AAMSU and some minority-based organisations had jointly called a 12-hour bandh in Darrang where an uneasy calm prevails.

    The government, which will use the land being cleared of for agricultural purposes and imparted training to some 500 indigenous youth in farming, including piggery and pisciculture for the purpose, has decided to deploy additional paramilitary forces to Darrang.

  • Police bullet cuts short ‘bright’ Assam teenager’s life

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: Abdul Khaleque is a mere farmer belonging to a farmers’ village – Dholpur No 2 – on the north bank of the Brahmaputra in Assam’s Darrang district.

    It was not just his dream but the aspiration of fellow villagers that his “bright” teenager son, Sheikh Farid, will one day educate himself and bring fame to the nondescript hamlet.

    The Class 9 boy became famous on Thursday after his life was cut short by a police bullet during an eviction drive.

    He was one of the two persons killed when a mob of protestors clashed with the police at neighbouring Dholpur No 3 village, 4 km from Dholpur No 2. “He was a bright student. We all thought he would make us proud someday but the police killed him without any provocation,” Khaleque told The New Indian Express with his eyes welled up.

    Farid was the youngest of four siblings. His three brothers slog in the field to support the family of six. Stricken by poverty, most families in the village prefer engaging their children in farming to sending them to schools.

    ALSO READ | Congress urges Assam Governor to stop Darrang eviction till rehabilitation announced

    Khaleque said he had no idea Farid had gone out to see the eviction drive. He had lost the ground under his feet when a villager broke the news of the teenager’s death. “We have a democratic right to stage a protest but the police fired indiscriminately,” he said as his wife was crying inconsolably.

    The neighbours have kept visiting the house to stand by the family at this hour of grief.

    Khaleque said a lot of locals from Dholpur No 2 village had gone to Dholpur No 3 village on Thursday, worried over an impending similar drive in their village.  “The villagers have remained tense for the past few days as they fear their village could be targeted next. So, a lot of them had gone to see how things unfold there amidst the protest,” Khaleque said.

    He said he would not have allowed Farid to go there if he had any idea about the child’s plan. “The government has taken the life of an innocent boy. We will not get peace in mind till justice is delivered,” he said.

    Moinul Hoque, 32, was the other person who fell to a police bullet. He had lost his cool after his minor daughter was allegedly beaten up by the police. He had charged at a group of policemen with a stick but they shot him down at point-blank range. “He and his family members were vacating the house when some cops entered the house and beat up his daughter. This enraged him and he attempted to attack the personnel,” Ainuddin Ahmed, advisor to All Assam Minority Students’ Union, said.

    Hoque, a farmer, was the lone breadwinner in the family of eight. He left behind his parents, wife, three children and a sister.