Assam govt orders judicial probe after horrific video of police brutality surfaces
The Assam government ordered a judicial probe into the Dholpur Gorukhuti clashes that led to death of two people. Several people, including nine policemen, were injured during the incident.
At least two protesters were killed and many
others, including nine police personnel, injured during clashes between police
and locals at Dholpur Gorukhuti area in Assam's Darrang district on Thursday.
The clashes broke out at a time when a team
of security personnel went to the area to evict illegal encroachers from the
land belonging to a state farming project. When the security personnel reached
the area, thousands of locals gathered and raised slogans against the eviction
drive. The Assam cabinet had earlier taken a decision to recover the land
completely from encroachers and convert it to a state farming project.
A judicial probe has been ordered by the Assam government in the incident after reports and videos of police brutality emerged.
A video of the incident has gone viral on social media. (Viewer discretion is advised.)
The drive on Monday was carried out in
Dholpur Bazar area, West Chuba area, Dholpur no. 1 and and 3 under Sipajhar
revenue circle. The clashes took place between Dholpur no. 1 and and 3 area
when the security personnel and officials of district administration reached
the area.
Around 12.30pm, thousands of protesters
gathered in the area and engaged in heated argument with security personnel and
officials of district administration. Around 1.10pm, some protesters started
pelting stones at the police and attacked them with sharp weapons. This led to
police firing in the open and using tear gas shells.
Darrang district Superintendent of Police
(SP) Sushanta Biswa Sarma said nine police personnel were also injured in the
attack. "So far, I have received information that two protesters were
injured in police firing and they were rushed to hospital. Update will
come," Sushanta Biswa Sarma said.
Assam is on state-sponsored
fire: Rahul Gandhi
Condemning police firing on Dholpur
residents, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted, "Assam is on
state-sponsored fire. I stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in
the state- no children of India deserve this."
Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC)
president Bhupen Kumar Borah said that the very act of eviction is inhuman
especially during Covid situation.
"The Supreme Court had also given a
directive against eviction during pandemic situation yet the Assam government led
by CM Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma has remained adamant behaving in an autocratic
manner to evict the residents of Dholpur who have been living in the area since
the 1970's," he said.
Bhupen Kumar Borah said that
before eviction, the government should have arranged for rehabilitation and
alternative housing.
"The
people in the area have been subjected to harassment repeatedly by the BJP
government since they came to power in 2016. Without alternative arrangements
for land and housing where will these poor people go and how will they survive?
They are mostly cultivators and their source of sustenance is being attacked. A
government's job is to work for welfare of people and not create problems for
people by making them homeless without food, shelter , education which are
basic human rights," Bhupen Kumar Borah said.
"We demand that CM should
first rehabilitate the people and not evict them forcefully. It is becoming
very clear that the BJP government only knows how to govern through the might
of the bullet as seen in fake encounters and now in open firing on people. Such
type of governance is highly condemnable and is dangerous for a democratic
society," Bhupen Borah added.
The Congress warned the BJP
government to not indulge in actions that will turn Assam into a police state
and has sought judicial probe into the incident.
Many organizations, including All
Assam Minorities Students' Union (AAMSU), have staged protest against the
incident in Morigaon, Darrang and many other parts of the state.
The eviction drive
Over 800 families were rendered
homeless after the Assam government carried out a massive eviction drive
Dholpur Gorukhuti village in the Darrang district on Monday. The government
recovered 4,500 bighas of land. The village is populated mostly by Muslims of
East Bengal origin.
The
first eviction drive in the village was conducted in June after which a
fact-finding committee visited the area. The committee had stated that 49
Muslim families and one Hindu family had been uprooted in the drive, which
local newspapers said had “cleared” 120 bighas of land (1 bigha is around 900
square yards), purportedly belonging to “pre-historic” Shiva temple, according
to a news report.
Some
residents of Dholpur Gorukhuti told a news organization that the number of
evicted families was more than 900, which would take the count of affected
people to at least 20,000.
The project was announced by chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma after he visited Dholpur Gorukhuti, a day after the first eviction drive had been carried out by the district administration on June 7.
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