The Meghalaya high court has directed authorities to intensify efforts to identify and prosecute those responsible for the violence during a Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) black-flag bike rally in Shillong on Wednesday, as fresh arson incidents and restrictions on movement along the Assam-Meghalaya border heightened concerns over law and order.
Police have registered cases and launched investigations. A Division Bench of Justices H.S. Thangkhiew and W. Diengdoh, hearing a suo motu PIL, took cognisance of the violence, noting extensive damage to government, police and public transport vehicles and the alleged desecration of statues of national heroes. The administration has meanwhile tightened restrictions. The administration also revoked permission for the protest following Wednesday’s violence. The blockade has added to growing Assam-Meghalaya tensions after Assam-based transport operators stopped Meghalaya-registered vehicles at Jorabat and Khanapara. The unrest has also spread beyond Shillong. A suspected police motorcycle was also torched at Malki. The government drivers’ community has meanwhile raised concerns over the safety of personnel operating official vehicles. The Meghalaya Government Drivers’ Welfare Association has urged the government to minimise deployment of government vehicles in vulnerable areas until normalcy returns, after several official vehicles were damaged or torched and some drivers suffered minor injuries.
Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) was imposed in the Sadar police station area, prohibiting unauthorised rallies, processions and assemblies ahead of the KSU’s proposed Friday protest at Khyndailad. The KSU’s agitation centres on demands including action over the July 31 Shree Cement public hearing in East Jaiñtia Hills, stronger implementation of the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act, regulation of migrant workers, recruitment reforms at North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS), and removal of interviews for Grade B, C and D posts.
The court directed authorities to take “more intensive and immediate” steps to apprehend those responsible and submit an action-taken report by August 24. Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K Sangma has spoken to Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, with both governments agreeing to work together to restore “peace, trust and normalcy”. Two government vehicles were torched at secured locations in Nongstoin on Friday, while a transport department vehicle was set ablaze at Mookynphad Mihmyntdu in West Jaiñtia Hills.
