SHILLONG: The incident of assault on the six youths at Lawsohtun was not communal in nature, but an act of crime, according to one of the victims while explaining the genesis of incident.
The 23-year-old youth told The Shillong Times on Sunday that they were attacked without any warning by a group of miscreants, “who were wearing masks and could not be recognised”, but he ruled out that it was an outcome of communal hatred.
“We have been going to the basketball court for the last one month but nobody told us anything. In fact, we would go there often even in the past. Some of the local boys, who were younger than me, would also play. I really don’t know what happened,” said the youth, who studies in Kolkata and came home before the lockdown.
The youth, who had stitches on the head and suffered a broken arm, said he was the first person to be attacked. “A youth came from behind and tried to hit me but he slipped and fell. When I turned back, I saw more people holding rods approaching us. Three of us managed to flee,” he narrated.
His brother reached at the right time and rescued him. He was bleeding from the head when he came home. The brother too took a few blows on the head.
Despite this tragedy, the family rejected claims of “some people” that it was communal. The father of the victim was exasperated while talking about the social media messages with communal overtone. He also blamed the police and the media for publicising the names of the victims.
“Had the names been not mentioned, things would not have gone out of control. The media and the police should have been more responsible while reporting this issue,” he said and added, with conviction, that giving communal colour to criminal incidents such as this “should stop somewhere”.
Some social media messages, which hinted at communal violence, went viral and have given a wrong notion about the incident not only in the state but also outside.
Police picked up 11 suspects on Saturday for interrogation. It was confirmed on Sunday that nobody had been arrested for want of any corroborative evidence.
Meanwhile, the Lawsohtun Dorbar Shnong held a meeting on Sunday. Headman Lurshai Shylla said the Shnong “is still in the dark about the assault incident”.
“We still do not know what exactly happened. We are finding out. We are coordinating with the police. The incident happened all of a sudden,” he told The Shillong Times.
Shylla said he came across an injured boy and asked him to get into his vehicle “but out of fear, the injured boy did not get in”.
“He went on his own way. So I went to the site of the assault but found no one,” Shylla said. He informed that Lawsohtun has restricted entry to the playground following the incident though boys from the locality can play.
