Two back-to-back instances have ostensibly prompted Assam Director General of Police GP Singh to issue instructions to officers in different ranges and districts to “maintain amity amongst different communities” and to prevent instances of “resorting to instant justice and action beyond law”.
The alleged assault of a 17-year-old girl in Assam’s Sivasagar – an incident in which the accused are local business owners from the Marwari community – had resulted in protests against “non-Assamese” business owners in the town in general.
On Tuesday, members of the town’s Marwari community knelt in the presence of state cabinet minister Ranoj Pegu, who was presiding over a meeting to resolve the differences, representatives of the district administrations, the protesting organisations and the media to issue a “public apology”.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday that he requests the Marwari community “not to take this as a matter of reputation” because the issue was because of “an incident that happened with a girl”.
“There is no political angle to this… In an incident like this, if someone would have said the Chief Minister should kneel down, even I would have knelt down. Because in Assam, be it an Assamese girl, Marwari girl, Bihari girl, Bengali girl, none of us are bigger than a girl’s honour,” he said.
However, on Wednesday, another incident allegedly took place in Margherita in Tinsukia district. In a widely circulated video, a Hindi-speaking man can purportedly be seen being made to kneel down and apologise by a group, which is heard claiming that he mistreated a customer at his shop.
The group can be seen surrounding the man as he is kneeling down with a gamusa around his neck, and making him repeat in Assamese: “From today onwards, I will behave well with every customer coming to my shop and from today, I will not chase guests coming to my house or treat them badly.” After this, they can purportedly be seen repeatedly making him chant “Joi Aai Axom (Hail Mother Assam).”
On Thursday, the DGP wrote to police heads in Guwahati, all ranges and districts, stating, “It is advised that district police units, along with Thana Level Nagrik Committees and District Administration, should have regular meetings with stakeholders from all communities and strive to maintain amity amongst different communities.”
“There should be no space to resort to instant justice or action beyond law by any section of people. The field police units shall mandatorily ensure the rule of law under all circumstances. Failure to do so shall be viewed adversely and dealt with accordingly,” he wrote.
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