6 youths brutally assaulted in Meghalaya, MP Silchar airs serious grievance

July 4: Six youths were brutally thrashed in at Lawsohtun locality of capital Shillong in Meghalaya on Friday. The six boys were soaked in blood as per eye-witnesses after being attacked by a group of around 20 miscreants in broad daylight. As per a press release issued by the Asstt Inspector General of Police (A), Meghalaya on 4 July, the 6 victims were identified as Aridam Das(22), Subharshi Das Purkayastha(22), Saptarshi Das Purkayastha (20), Pinak Deb (23) and Bishal Ghosh (24) and Prittish Deb. The bizarre incident took place at 12:30 pm on Friday.

Police sources revealed that the five boys, who are from different localities of Shillong, came to play basketball at Lawsohtun block VI and have been coming to the ground for the past two weeks. East Mojo in a report stated that a gang of around 20 persons armed with iron rods and sticks attacked the 6 boys and started beating them ruthlessly. The 5 injured were then taken to Woodland Hospital.

My request to @SangmaConrad and @himantabiswa to ensure that the culprits who beat up the 5 non tribal students at #lawsohtun #Shillong be booked and action taken.
Burdened with pandemic #discrimination not solicited ! pic.twitter.com/7AGaEZmuPU

— Dr Rajdeep Roy MP ( MS, MCh) (@drrajdeeproy) July 4, 2020

The incident had raised anger among many and social media is flooded with demand for justice. Meanwhile, Mp Silchar Dr. Rajdeep Roy on 4 July morning took serious note of this brutal incident and tweeted, “My request to @SangmaConrad and @himantabiswato ensure that the culprits who beat up the 6 non tribal students at #lawsohtun #Shillong be booked and action taken. Burdened with pandemic #discrimination not solicited !” Responding to the tweet of MP Silchar, Meghalaya Police replied, “A criminal case has already been registered in this regard. Further investigation is on.”

I strongly condemn the assault on 5 boys yesterday in Lawsohtun, Shillong. An assault on any citizen of the State irrespective of background or community will not be tolerated. Perpetrators of such heinous crimes will be charged by law. Action will be taken. @MeghalayaPolice

— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) July 4, 2020

Meanwhile at 5.04 PM on 4 July, Meghalaya Chief Minister responded and tweeted, “I strongly condemn the assault on 5 boys yesterday in Lawsohtun, Shillong. An assault on any citizen of the State irrespective of background or community will not be tolerated. Perpetrators of such heinous crimes will be charged by law. Action will be taken.”

This was followed by a social media update by Meghalaya Police wherein they wrote, “Update regarding Lawsohtun incident. A criminal case No. 71(07)20 has been registered at Laban PS, following which, 3 suspects were picked up yesterday and 8 suspects were picked up today. We appeal to all the witness(es) to kindly come forward & help the investigation team.”

However, the incident has resulted in sharp reaction from the non-tribal community of Meghalaya. Twitter is flooded with demand for booking the culprits immediately. Racism in any of the form is not welcome. Airing grievance, MP Silchar Rajdeep Roy said, “Such instances are not new in Meghalaya. Over the last 10 years, many hundreds of such brutal incidents occurred in Meghalaya and always the perpetrators of such heinous act goes scotfree.” A twitterati stated that since 1979 in Meghalaya, not a single case of atrocities has seen its logical conclusion.

Silchar MP while airing his discontentment said that such incidents are most unwelcome. Such incidents make the linguistic minorities residing in Meghalaya lose confidence in the state government. He raised a strong demand of booking all the culprits of this heinous crime and provide exemplary punishment to the miscreants so that such incidents are not repeated in future. He said, “I urge upon the Chief Minister of Meghalaya to take this matter very seriously.”