GUWAHATI, Dec 29: The one-person probe commission, led by retired judge of Gauhati High Court, Justice Rumi Kumari Phukan, on Wednesday visited the site of last month’s firing at Mukroh to have a “first-hand understanding” of the place of occurrence of the unfortunate incident along the Assam-Meghalaya border.
Speaking to media persons at the site, Justice Phukan said, “The ground visit undertaken today will help us comprehend the facts and findings of the reports/documents that we have received so far from the concerned authorities as only after a proper verification of the facts and findings (through this ground visit) can we can visualise or get an understanding of the entire picture.”
According to reports, the probe panel took stock of the place of firing and the forest beat office which was burned down by miscreants in the area.
“So we took stock of the site, inspected the place of occurrence of the incident and the places where the bodies of the deceased were recovered. Subsequently, on the basis of evidence from witnesses and maps we will be able to visualise the entire picture. Without the on-site visit, it is difficult to understand or get a true picture,” Justice Phukan said.
Police and forest officials along with representatives of some organisations, including Karbi Students’ Association, were present at the site during the probe commission’s visit to Mukroh on Wednesday.
It may be mentioned that the Assam government had last month constituted the inquiry commission to probe the circumstances leading to the firing along the inter-state boundary at Mukroh, in which five civilians from Meghalaya and a forest guard from Assam were killed following a clash between a group of people and police/forest personnel.
“The commission will submit its report within two months from the date of issue of the notification,” an official statement issued on November 24, 2022, had said.
The inquiry commission has been constituted under Section 3 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952, to ascertain the facts, circumstances and the exact reason of the firing, which resulted in the death of six persons on November 22, 2022.
“The government has directed us to take stock of each and every situation….so we will take stock of what is necessary. But we cannot make any concrete opinion at this stage. We have to verify everything – the observations made from this ground visit, the government/official records and documents, maps,” Justice Phukan informed media persons.
On Tuesday, the probe panel conducted a public hearing at the Inspection Bungalow of the Irrigation department at Dongkamukam in West Karbi Anglong district.
Notably, the panel had called for persons or organisations having knowledge of the facts and circumstances (relating to the Mukroh firing) to appear and submit the statements to the commission.
However, only a few individuals and organisations turned up at the hearing, apparently because it was conducted at a short notice.
“So we requested the commission to schedule another date of the public hearing so as to allow all the witnesses to be present and give statements of the incident. Accordingly, the next public hearing will be conducted on January 9, 2023,” vice-chairman of the Diphu-based Joint Action Committee for Autonomous State (JACAS), Stalyn Ingti informed The Shillong Times on Wednesday.
The JACAS office-bearers had also submitted a memorandum to the inquiry commission Tuesday.
