By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Sep 6: The KHNAM on Wednesday accused the state government of misusing law to stifle the voices of dissent against it in the state.
This comes after the police launched an offensive against members of HITO who staged a protest on Monday wearing ‘black uniforms’. It ensued in a clash and 10 members of the group were arrested while a few police personnel sustained injuries
KHNAM also questioned the not-setting up of a State-level Police Accountability Commission.
Quoting Section 171 in The Indian Penal Code, KHNAM general secretary, Thomas Passah, stated, “Whoever, not belonging to a certain class of public servants, wears any garb or carries any token resembling any garb or token used by that class of public servants, with the intention that it may be believed, or with the knowledge that it is likely to be believed, that he belongs to that class of public servants, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to two hundred rupees, or with both”.
In this regard, Passah said that HITO members were wearing black clothes with no batch or identity mark or any resemblances to the uniform worn by the public servants nor were they trying to portray themselves as a public servant.
“The state government has misused the IPC 171 maybe with intention to silence voices of the oppressed or of those who challenged the non-performance of the government of the day,” he said.
He also quoted Section 105 of Meghalaya Police Act 2010, saying “Whoever, not being a member of the Police Service, wears, without obtaining permission from an officer authorized in this behalf by the state government by a general or special order, a police uniform or any dress having the appearance or bearing any of the distinctive marks of that uniform, shall, on conviction, be punished with imprisonment not exceeding three months or fine of Rs. 5,000/- or both.”
Passah contended that the uniform worn by the NGO members did not in any way resemble the uniform worn by the police personnel.
“We do not see batches, ranks or other marks which will makes us believe that the uniform resembles that of the police department.
Therefore here too section 105 of the Meghalaya Police Act 2010 has been misused or misinterpreted,” he added.
He also claimed that videos have gone viral on social media which show police personnel using abusive language while chasing and beating up people, some of whom could have simply been commuters caught in the incident.
“The worst we saw was the police throwing tear gas grenade inside a small tea stall when pregnant woman and customers were inside the shop,” he said.
The KHNAM has also accused the state government of violating section 73(2) of the Meghalaya Police Act 2010, which pertains to the setting up of the State-level Police Accountability Commission or the Accountability Commission.
“Why has the state government not constituted the said commission which could have brought a sense of accountability in the mind of the police authority while performing duty,” he questioned.
“The Article 19 (1) (a) (b) and (c) of the Constitution of India empowers citizens with right to freedom of speech and expression, to assemble peaceably and without arms and to form associations or unions and the state government cannot take away this fundamental rights given by our Constitution,” he added.