GUWAHATI: Assam police have termed the claim by Meghalaya that one of the five border villagers arrested for alleged involvement in mob violence was “a physically challenged girl”, as incorrect.
Congress legislator Kimfa S Marbaniang had raised the issue in the Meghalaya Assembly on Thursday, saying that the five villagers, including “an 18-year-old physically challenged girl”, were languishing in Boko police station for almost three weeks.
Speaking to The Shillong Times on Saturday, Boko police station officer in charge, J. Barman said the arrested persons included two women and three men who were “involved in the mob attack on a team of Assam public health engineering officials” on September 8.
“The two women arrested are about 23 years and 45 years of age respectively while the other three are men. None of five persons is physically challenged as per our knowledge. They are currently lodged at Guwahati Central Jail,” Barman said.
A 16-member PHE team had gone to Malang Hohua, a village on the Assam-Meghalaya border, about 10km from Boko town in Kamrup district, on September 8 to inspect the water quality of a scheme that incidentally catered to the residents of the area. On their return they were confronted and allegedly assaulted by a group of villagers.
“Subsequently, an FIR was lodged by the PHE team at Boko police station against the mob, following which we arrested one on September 9 and the others four days later. We are looking at other villagers too who might be involved in the incident,” the police officer said.
Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma had stated in the Assembly on Wednesday that around 150 people of Malangkona in West Khasi Hills, bordering Assam, have fled after five persons of the village were arrested by Assam police.
Currently, both the states are keeping a close watch on the situation in the area.
“The state government is keeping a close tab on the situation along the Assam-Meghalaya border in Kamrup district. Regular police patrolling is being carried out in the region and the government is monitoring the situation,” Assam parliamentary affairs minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said in the Assembly on Friday.
Meghalaya shares an over 850-km long border with Assam and the two states have a decades-old border dispute.
Kamrup (Rural) deputy commissioner, Kamal Kumar Baishya, told this correspondent on Saturday, that while the situation is under control, encroachment of land across villages along the inter-state border took place quite regularly. “There have been instances in the past when ‘Welcome to Meghalaya’ sign boards were put up on Assam land only to be removed by authorities later,” he said.
