Darrang: Protests have erupted in Assam on Friday after two civilians were killed and nine police personnel were injured in an anti-encroachment drive on September 23. The Congress party members took to the streets protesting against 'police atrocities' and staged sit-in-demonstration at Mangaldai in Darrang. The All Assam Minority Students Union (AAMSU) has called for a 12-hour-long shutdown of the district.
While the state government has ordered for an inquiry to be conducted by retired high court judge into the circumstances that led to the firing, the Congress party has demanded immediate transfer of the Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police to ensure transparency in the probe.
Condemning the eviction drive, the Congress party said that the incident is a violation of the Gauhati High Court's order and added that the manner in which a protester is ruthlessly beaten to death on camera by police personnel and subsequent violence on the deceased protester by the Darrang police cameraman Bijoy Sankar Bania in presence of police is horrifying.
"The lone protester could have been easily overpowered by the 40 police personnel who were present there. To shoot a lone distraught protester who has lost his home is brutally inhuman. The police should have tried to pacify him instead of killing him at point-blank range," said Congress in a memorandum submitted to Assam Governor Prof. Jagadeesh Mukhi on Friday.
The Congress also termed the incident of violence as extremely inhuman, undemocratic and unconstitutional and added that it is a clear case of state-sponsored fire on people living in those areas. "The incident is also a gross violation of Right to Equality," said Congress leader and MLA Debabrata Saikia.
Referring to an order passed by the Gauhati High Court on May 10 2021, he said that a full bench of the High Court headed by the Chief Justice had ordered that any decree for eviction/ dispossession or demolition should remain in abeyance due to the Covid-19 pandemic. "Despite this, the BJP government has remained adamant by behaving in an autocratic manner to evict the residents of Dhalpur area without any rehabilitation plan," Saikia said.
The incident so far
The photographer identified as Bijay Bania was arrested by Assam police on Thursday after a purported video of the man hitting a deceased man during the firing incident, went viral. Bania was hired by the Darrang district administration to document the eviction process.
The incident took place at the Dhalpur area under the Sipajhar police station in Darrang district when a team of civil administration accompanied by the security forces went to clear illegal encroachments in the area. District administration officials said that about 77,420 bighas of government land had been under illegal encroachment for over two decades.
As the police and civil administration reached Dhalpur No 1 and Dhalpur No 2 areas, the locals protested and obstructed the team from proceeding to carry out the eviction drive. The locals numbering several hundreds gathered in the area and shouted slogans against the Assam government and police.
The district administration, which had earlier served eviction notice to the encroachers, asked the locals to vacate the area. However, the situation turned worse when some of the locals pelted stones at the eviction team forcing the security forces to first fire tear gas shells and later fire in the blank to disperse the crowd.
As some of the locals charged towards the police team with bamboo sticks and lethal weapons like machetes, the police resorted to firing, killing two of the protesting civilians. Police said that at least ten of the security force personnel were injured, and some of them suffered grievous injuries.
It may be mentioned here that 77,420 bighas of government land were under illegal encroachment under the Sipajhar revenue circle in Darrang district. The BJP-led Assam government had started a massive eviction drive in June 2021 and cleared about 8,000 bighas of land.
On September 20 this year, the government had launched another massive eviction drive in Dhalpur area and could clear 450 bighas of land evicting about 750 families, who belonged to religious minority communities, who had been residing there. According to a government estimate, about 500 families had been evicted on Thursday's eviction drive.
Also read: Assam police firing: Lensman seen hitting dead man in viral video arrested
