NONGPOH: The two arrested leaders of the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) will have to stay in police custody for five more days.
The district court here sent Ferdynald Kharkamni, president of KSU’s North Khasi Hills district unit, and Sunstar Nongkhlaw, assistant secretary of the union’s central body, to five-day police custody after hearing pleas of the investigating officers.
The KSU leaders were arrested for violent protests on May 27 and attack on workers at the railway project site at Ronghuna in Ri Bhoi.
The district administration, police and the railways had separately filed three FIRs and booked the KSU leaders under several sections of the Meghalaya Maintenance of Public Order Act and the Indian Penal Code. Three more leaders were arrested later.
Earlier, Kharkamni and Nongkhlaw were sent to police custody for eight days and for an additional 14 days on June 4.
Talking to The Shillong Times, the family members of the accused said they were “shocked at the sudden decision” to produce the two leaders to the legal counsel on Tuesday without any intimation. They said it was in violation of human rights.
They also expressed dismay at the police conducting multiple rounds of interrogation and treating the accused as terrorists.
