SHILLONG/TURA: In the Garo Hills of Meghalaya, the police are a harried lot. On the top of chasing the ever increasing number of militant groups, they have now also to keep track of reports of devil worshippers.
Though many, as indicated by reactions in the social media, are taking the reports of practitioners of the satanic cult among youths in the Garo Hills with a pinch of salt, the police have activated themselves to look for suspects who could be indulging in devil worship.
West Garo Hills Superintendent of Police MK Singh said on Wednesday that the police were taking the reports “very seriously” and repeated raids were being conducted in different pockets of the district to ensure that such practices were not followed by any one.
Reports in a section of the media that several groups of young people in Tura and Williamnagar are engaged in such worship have taken people by surprise. People have been alarmed to find school students even meditating.
According to Singh, so far no written complaint had been received by the police against such worships. But he said that a nexus between drug abuse and satanic cults could not be ruled out. The police teams in the district had been directed to intensify mobile patrolling to detect any such practice. Besides, the police were also making best attempts to dig into the roots of the malady, if there was indeed any.
Another concerned body is the Women’s Group of the Williamnagar Baptist Church which had recently organized a ‘Prayer Ride’ in different locations of East Garo Hills to pray for youths who might have been led astray, as also for well-being against other problems plaguing the district.
During the occasion, special prayers were conducted at Williamnagar Baptist Church, Chisobibra IB, TV Tower Area, Samgong Market, Batallion Camp, Samgong Bridge, Cashewnut Plantation (Chipit), Nengkra Road near Rubber Rubber Plantation, Nengkra A’gal Church, Jail Gate and Tambo Ading Petrol Pump. Altogether 71 men and women participated in the programme.
In fact, the small towns of Tura in West Garo Hills and Williamnagar in East Garo Hills have been in the grip of feverish talks about ‘satanic cult’ since some time now with a number of separate instances of satanic worship being reported from different corners of the two districts.
It has got a name also. The cult, calling itself the ‘A’chik Underground Cult,’ has been in the news and even has an account in the popular networking site, Facebook. But, following a flow of negative comments and criticisms from different quarters, the account has been blocked by the Facebook authorities, according to sources.
An incident of several students of some prominent schools in Tura town going missing for about three days had strengthened the gossip mill.
Families of the missing students had sought help from NGOs of the town who, after a search, managed to locate them in the act of meditation in a secluded forested area in the outskirts of the town. The students were then sent back to their respective families.
The popular haunt of these groups seem to be cemeteries and burial grounds.
No one knows what satanic rituals are all about, but there have been instances of damage being done to tombstones and crosses being taken apart, broken and uprooted.
Ordinary citizens are alarmed over a spurt in such activities in recent months. They are of the view that these practices need to be immediately stopped.
It is easy to lead astray youths who school dropouts, they fear. Immediate attempts should be made to bring back the youths to a normal social life, they say.
