Rift in two groups of activists
SHILLONG: An internal feud in CSWO has turned ugly with the member of one group blaming Agnes Kharshiing for misusing the name of the organisation.
The CSWO group led by Irene Hujon criticised Kharshiing, who is in the forefront in the fight against the sex scandal involving Marvelene’s Inn run by the family of Home Minister HDR Lyngdoh, in a statement issued on Thursday.
Hujon, along with members of different Units and Circles in the entire state, expressed disgust over the misuse of the organisation’s name and misleading of the general public by Kharshiing.
“Agnes Kharshiing is not even one of the founding members but joined the organisation much later in 2007 when she needed help. But she slowly infiltrated and till date is illegally claiming to be a lifetime president after she took over as president in 2008 instead of the three years as allowed in the constitution of the organisation,” Hujon said and added that the organisation, which was once trusted and respected, has lost credibility in the society.
According to Hujon, CSWO was established in 2005 by hundreds of respectable women, except Kharshiing, and as founding members, they have valid documents provided by the office of the Registrar of Societies.
Hujon further said Kharshiing’s “overzealous attitude” makes her interfere in every matter concerning the government, the Police, the Court, matters concerning villages, families, which make it look like there are no MLAs, MDCs MPs, IAS, Dorbar Shnong, Women and Child Commissions, police or court in the State.
“As founding members, we condemn her cunningness to hide herself under the umbrella of this organisation (CSWO) in all matters and this is how she gets away with a lot of baloney,” Hujon said.
While informing that Kharshiing was involved in drug trafficking in 2002 and was arrested by Laitumkhrah police and booked under case Section 21 of the NDPS Act, Hujon said the case was registered in 2002 and till date the case is pending in the court.
“We are curious to know what is behind the scene that this woman is frantically targeting the owners of this particular guest house whereas she has avoided mentioning the names of the other two guest houses, one at Motinagar and the other one having a swimming pool in Ri Bhoi,” the group said.
She also questioned Kharshiing’s intention in targeting Home Minister HDR Lyngdoh when even the Chairperson of the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Meena Kharkongor, has not found any valid reason to file an FIR against him and his family.
Members of the CSWO also urged the government to take necessary steps at the earliest to wind up this organisation and ban the use of its name and they are not interested to embroil themselves in a tarnished NGO.
When contacted, Kharshiing said there was a drug case on her in 1998 as she had a pharmacy with a valid licence.
“If medicines are called drugs, it’s not my fault,” Kharshiing said while alleging that she was implicated by KSU during when Paul Lyngdoh was the president of the organisation.
“They (KSU) were extorting from non-tribal shops and I used to intervene, so they implicated me in drugs case,” Kharshiing said, adding that the case is still going on and the case has jumped from one judge to another since nobody wants to face the ire of KSU.
While accusing Hujon of protecting the Home Minister, she said the Home Minister by not stepping down is influencing the entire case.
“If they (Irene Hujon) instead of going after me would have gone after crime, the crime would have surely gone down,” she said.
She also recalled that CSWO has been registered with Evangelene Thabah as its General Secretary even as she alleged that one staff in the DC office was recently deliberately trying to hide their papers.
Kharshiing also said she had given an audio recording to SP (City) Vivek Syiem sometimes back where Hujon and another lady were planning to kill her. She, however, did not file any FIR in this connection.