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Mayhem at Silchar and Maneuvering in the Aftermath
Waliullah Ahmed Laskar
The incident can not be termed as horrifying in view of what is
happening inneighbouring state Manipur. No body was killed, though
many could have had been. But
the after effect of the incident is more than shocking. There
was nothing but reign of
terror. People were afraid to speak with each other even about
household chores. BarakHuman Rights Protection Committee (BHRPC)
team reported that when they went to the
spot they encountered an eerie silence. Witnesses refused to
talk. Victims were trying to
avoid the team members. Fear and terror were visible in the eyes
and faces of the peopleof the locality.
It was an incident of brutal display of brute force. The
terrifying effect of the incident was
not as much as that of the maneuvering in the aftermath.
Assam Rifles personnel belonging to the 5 th battalion camping
at Jiribam, Manipur came
to Silchar in Assam, a town known as the heart of Barak Valley,
on 2 August, 2009,bought pan from a panwala, pushed a pistol into
the mouth of panawala who had shown
the audacity of demanding money for his pan and then created a
mayhem establishing the
reign of terror for the whole night.
In a statement BHRPC detailed the incident:
According to the reports, some jawans in plain clothes belonging
to the 5 th battalion of
Assam Rifles visited the College Road area in Silchar around 4pm
on 2 August and kept
loitering there for a few hours. They bought pans from a panshop
owned by oneTrinath Dhar of the same locality and started to go
away without making payment for thepans. They got angry when the
panwala demanded money for his pans and started to
hurl abuses and threats at him. At further entreaties for the
payment the jawans beat
him, tried to strangle him and one of the jawans put his service
pistol into the mouth ofthe panwala. When people gathered the
jawans went away but warned him that he
would be dealt with appropriately later.
Around 10.30 pm that night 5 jawans led by a major named R Gupta
came back in a
jeepsy car without number plate. They were in plain clothes.
Most of the shops were
closed at that time. They looked for Trinath Dhar, but his shop
was also closed and he hid
himself somewhere nearby. The jawans entered a nearby saloon
named Ajoy HairCutting, which was still open, and started to break
things and to beat people inside the
shop. The reports alleged that the jawans hurled Sumon Sheel, a
worker in the saloon,
through the window into a drain several feet down. He sustained
severe injuries.
According to the reports, at the hue and cry people of the
locality started to gather at the
spot and the jawans kept beating indiscriminately whoever they
could catch includingwomen and rickshaw pullers creating a mayhem.
They also allegedly opened fire. Ten
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persons including Ajoy Sheel, the owner of the saloon, Sumon
Sheel, a worker in the
saloon, Trinath Dhar, the panwala who came out from his hiding
when people gathered
and Rapon Bhattacharya of Subhash Nagar were injured.
At that time the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP),
Headquarter, Cachar and the
Officer-in-Charge of Silchar police station came to the spot
with a large police force andbrought the situation under control.
The police took the jawans including the major and
the injured to the police station. The injured were sent to the
hospital for treatment. But
no First Information Report (FIR) was registered.
The Assam Rifles major told the media persons that they were in
an ambush there and the
local people attacked them even after the jawans revealed their
identity. He claimed that
Assam Rifles personnel were acting in self defence. But there is
no answer to thequestion why Assam Rifles did not inform the local
police about their operation in a thick
residential area which they are bound to do.
Members of the BHRPC visited the area next day (3 August) in
order to find out the factsabout the incident. They encountered
with an eerie silence. Witnesses refused to talk.
Victims were trying to avoid the team members. Fear and terror
were visible in the eyesand faces of the people of the locality.
After much persuasion and guarantee of protection
of identity some victims and witnesses spoke out. Their accounts
corroborated each and
every facts stated above.
They added that they were asked not to speak with the media and
human rights groups
except that the matter was settled amicably and that they had no
grievances against the
Assam Rifles personnel or Assam Police members. But the
grievances were so acute anddeep that one of them went on to say
that talks of human rights have meanings only in
independent democratic countries and out of frustration he
declared that India is neither
independent nor democratic in actual sense of the terms. If you
try to fight for yourrights legally they will kill you legally, he
claimed. He went on, if you file a complaint
with the police the investigation will be biased and at the end
of the day the accused will
not be prosecuted or if prosecuted will be acquitted for lack of
evidence. According tohim, this is the best expectable situation.
At the worst you will be encountered, he
claimed. According to him, it is a practice of the security
forces to make terrorist of a
person who dares to point his fingers against them by planting
arms and ammunitions at
his residence and then they will kill him in a staged encounter.
No human rights groupwill be able to save him, he declared.
The statement said, BHRPC could not persuade the terrified
victims to lodge a complaintwith the police regarding the incident.
It reveals their lack of trust in Indian justice
delivery system, which is very dangerous.
One of leading local daily news paper carried the story of
mutual settlement on 4
August. The report informed that the matter was settled in a
tripartite meeting among
victims, Assam Rifles personnel and officials of Assam Police
held at Silchar police
station on 3 August. The news paper planted a new version of the
incident completely
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contradicting what it told the day before. More over, it did not
make any reference to the
earlier story by way of refutation or corrigendum or whatever
may be. The paper owes an
explanation to its readers and the public. All other papers kept
mum on the matter.
It shows a conspiracy of silence. BHRPC thinks that there are
ample grounds to conclude
prima facie that the Assam Rifles, Assam Police, local media and
some other localelements are in collusion with each other to
protection the accused jawans from legal
consequences. In effect, rights of the victims of crimes to
justice, remedies and reparation
are being denied.
BHRPC concludes that the incident and the subsequent efforts to
hush it up amount to
vaiolations of fundamental rights laid down in Artiles 21 and 14
of the Constitution of
India. Article 21 guarantees right to life and personal liberty,
which includes, inter alia,right to live with human dignity, right
to physical and psychological integrity and right to
justice, remedies and adequate reparation in case of violations
of any fundamental rights.
Article 14 guarantees equality before and law and equal
protection of law. The officials of
the Assam Police violated this right of victims by not
registering an FIR and by notinitiating prosecution against the
accused personnel.
The actions of the Assam Rifles personnel and officials of Assam
police also violated
international human rights obligation of the State of India in
respect of the right to life,
security of persons and property, right to physical and
psychological integrity and right to
justice, remedies and adequate reparation in case of violations
as enshrined in theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights,
International Covenant of Civil and Political
Rights and other instruments.
See:
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