GUWAHATI: Pressure groups of Karbi Anglong on Monday met the one-man inquiry commission led by a retired judge of Gauhati High Court, Justice Rumi Kumari Phukan at Dongkamukam, and submitted a memorandum in regard to the Mukroh firing that resulted in the death of six persons.
The probe commission, which was constituted by the Assam government, visited Dongkamukam for the second time to conduct a public hearing in regard to the incident.
During the first hearing, only a few individuals and organisations turned up, apparently because it was conducted at a short notice.
The Karbi groups comprising Joint Action Committee for Autonomous State (JACAS), Karbi Student and Youth Council (KSYC), Karbi Farmers Association (KFA) and Karbi Anglong Indigenous Youth Association (KAIYA) conveyed their gratitude to the probe panel for conducting the public hearing for the second time.
“The public hearing will facilitate persons or organisations, who have knowledge of the facts and circumstances leading to the firing, to submit their statements before the commission,” the signatories of the memorandum stated.
Condemning the incident at Mukroh on November 22, 2022, the groups termed the clash as unfortunate and condemnable.
“We strongly condemn it, and we demand the person or the group of persons responsible for creating the situation that led to the firing to be brought to book,” they stated in the memorandum.
Lauding the Assam government, the groups maintained that the constitution of the one-man inquiry commission deserved appreciation.
“We sincerely appreciate the Assam government for taking immediate steps to constitute the inquiry commission on November 23, 2023, to inquire into the facts and circumstances leading to the incident. We hope the commission, under the long judicial experience of your honour, would definitely be able to unearth the whole truth of the incident,” the memorandum to the one-man panel read.
Terming the death of Bidyasing Lekthe, a home guard with the Assam forest department, “mysterious”, the groups pointed out that a video of Lekthe making an appeal to the authority of the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council was doing the rounds on social media, a few days before the incident.
The groups further said that Lekthe had expressed concern (in the video clip) by stating that the forest guards at Mukroh forest camp were working under threat. In this context, the home guard had also made an appeal for help from the authority concerned.
The organisations further urged the panel to look into whether Lekthe was a victim of the timber smuggling racket in the area.
Besides, the groups further appealed to the commission that the orders placing the officer-in-charge, Zirikindeng and the forest ranger concerned under suspension should be reviewed; and that the family of Bidyasing Lekthe should be paid reasonable compensation.
“We are not satisfied with the way the forest officer and the officer-in-charge of Zirikindeng were placed under suspension summarily. The forest protection personnel were on duty to protect forest within the territory of Assam and the Assam police personnel were assisting the forest staff in taking possession of the immobilised truck illegally transporting logs to Meghalaya,” they stated in the memorandum.
They further appealed that the purview of the commission should be widened.
“We reiterate, the unfortunate Mukroh firing is not simply a case of timber smuggling. The illegal felling of trees, the regular smuggling of timber across the border to Meghalaya, and the construction of NEC roads up to Mokoilum are part of the constant and systematic encroachment into the territory of Assam, into the notified valid boundaries Karbi Anglong (and West Karbi Anglong),” the memorandum read.
“We would state that Karbi Anglong (bifurcated in 2016), formerly known as Mikir Hills, has well-defined valid boundaries; and Block 1, Block 1, Khanduli and Pesiar fall right within the valid boundaries of the district. Therefore, the claim of transfer of these areas to Meghalaya is an invalid one, as all matters relating to the boundary between the then United Khasi and Jaintia Hills District and the Mikir Hills Autonomous District (now Karbi Anglong) had been resolved when the latter was formed in 1951,” it read.
Notably, the probe commission had on December 28, 2022, visited the firing site at Mukroh to have a “first-hand understanding” of the place of occurrence of the unfortunate incident along the Assam-Meghalaya border.
Speaking to media persons at the site, Justice Phukan had said, “The ground visit undertaken will help us comprehend the facts and findings of the reports/documents that we have received so far from the concerned authorities as only after a proper verification of the facts and findings (through this ground visit) can we can visualise or get an understanding of the entire picture.”
According to reports, the probe panel took stock of the place of firing and the forest beat office which was burned down by miscreants in the area.
“So we took stock of the site, inspected the place of occurrence of the incident and the places where the bodies of the deceased were recovered. Subsequently, on the basis of evidence from witnesses and maps, we will be able to visualise the entire picture. Without the on-site visit, it is difficult to understand or get a true picture,” Justice Phukan said.
EASTMOJO PREMIUM
Help sustain honest journalism.
It may be mentioned that the Assam government had last month constituted the inquiry commission to probe the circumstances leading to the firing along the inter-state boundary at Mukroh, in which five civilians from Meghalaya and a forest guard from Assam were killed following a clash between a group of people and police/forest personnel.
“The commission will submit its report within two months from the date of issue of the notification,” an official statement issued on November 24, 2022, had said.
The inquiry commission has been constituted under Section 3 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952, to ascertain the facts, circumstances and the exact reason for the firing, which resulted in the death of six persons on November 22, 2022.
Also Read | Mizoram: Senior pastor fleeing B’desh dies of hunger following BSF blockade