Khyriem refuses to accept bail offer, gets 14-day judicial remand
SHILLONG: In a dramatic turn of events, police on Thursday arrested KSU president Daniel Khyriem after he refused to accept the bailable warrant served on him by the special court constituted by the state government to conduct the judicial process for damage suit filed against the leaders of pro-ILP pressure groups.
The KSU president was sent to jail after he refused to accept bail offered by the court.
The warrant was issued against the KSU president for over Rs 31 crore damage suit following a complaint filed by the district administration for being one of the organisations that was part of an agitation to implement Inner Line Permit (ILP) in 2013.
Khyriem was arrested from Sadar police station where he went accompanying two others, who were summoned by the officer In-charge for allegedly trying to disrupt an ongoing voters’ enrolment drive. The KSU chief was later produced before the court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM) K M L Nongbri, where he refused to avail the bail offered by the court.
The court later remanded Khyriem to a 14-day judicial custody. The KSU president’s case was registered under the Meghalaya Maintenance of Public Order Act.
After being produced in the court, the KSU president refused to sign the PR bond of Rs 3,000 to get the bail.
Khyriem maintained that if he was to be released then it should be an unconditional release.
The KSU publicity secretary Shemphang Lyngdoh later informed that before coming out of the police station at around 12 pm, a police official of Rilbong police beat handed over a bailable warrant notice issued by the special court on 29 April 2015 asking him (Khyriem) to appear before the Court on 16 June 2015.
The KSU president was of the view that the summon notice should have been served at his residence since it is from the Rilbong police beat house.
Meanwhile, agitated members of the KSU members blocked the vehicle carrying their president in front of the CJM court demanding immediate release of their leader while he was being produced.
The KSU members were seen shouting “we are not militants, release our president if the government doesn’t want trouble”. Khyriem spoke to the agitated members and said the demand should not be for his release but for the issues raised by the organisation before the State Government. “If the government fails to fulfill our demands within one week time, be prepared for an intensive agitation,” he said.