SHILLONG: Haviva Passah, the lessee of Stay Four Seasons guest house, said on Monday she had no political links as alleged by South Shillong MLA Sanbor Shullai and vowed to fight till the end to secure justice.
Passah also indicated that she could approach the State Women’s Commission for its intervention in the matter.
Talking to reporters on Monday, Passah said her brother Mickey was at the guest house when a group of army recruitment candidates approached him requesting for shelter for the night.
The army recruitment candidates from neighbouring states had blocked the areas of Kench’s Trace last week and many of them took shelter on the road or in the veranda of residents at night.
On August 2, Shullai barged into the guest house and drove away the candidates. He also took away the five-year lease agreement documents that he had signed with Passah in 2016.
Mickey was in charge on the day as his sister was in Delhi. She came back on August 4 and went to meet Shullai in the evening.
“There were some staff at his residential office. I went in to ask him as to what wrong we have done that prompted him to react in such a manner,” she said.
“He looked at me and said, ‘I don’t know you, I don’t need to explain.’ I told him I don’t need explanation as I only want my agreement papers back. At this juncture, he got up from his seat and pushed me aside hitting me on my chest and injuring my upper lip,” she added.
Passah filed an FIR against Shullai for outraging her modesty and other charges on Saturday following which the latter filed a counter-complaint on the same day alleging that she forcibly entered his office with two others “with a motive to tarnish his image”.
Referring to the allegations that she was drunk and used a dangerous weapon, Passah said, “If I was carrying a weapon, will not the PSO try to defend Shullai? Even the medical reports indicated that there was no alcohol.”
Asserting that Shullai threw the luggage of the guests and candidates, locked the guest rooms, ill-treated the candidates while they were having food, Passah went on to say that approaching the police turned futile.
“Even the Laban Police station in-charge talked about compromising (on the issue),” she said, adding that the guests, who had gone out for sightseeing, thought of filing an FIR against her brother after their rooms were locked by Shullai and luggage thrown outside.
“Bah (Sanbor) demanded the guests to leave insisting that no outsiders (dkhar) should be allowed to stay. There are 11 rooms of which six were occupied by guests while four were vacant,” she said.
She pointed out that her brother gave the four vacant rooms to around 15-20 candidates to spend the night.
Clarifying her stand, Passah said, “I am not involved in politics. I am a businesswoman with no political background. I want justice and will stand till the end as it is my right.”
Stating that the lease agreement with Shullai was signed for a period of five years, she said, “I will not give it away. Seeing that the guest house was running successfully, he took advantage of it.”
