Itanagar: The Intellectual Support Group, a group of intellectuals representing five circles of West Siang district in Arunachal Pradesh, has alleged police high-handedness in carrying out raids at two villages in the intervening night of May 1 and 2.
In a memo submitted to the state director general of police (DGP), the group representing five circles — Yomcha, Liromoba, Darak, Lower Kamba and Upper Kamba — said that the police broke laid-down procedures while carrying out the midnight raids at Tego Gamlin and Laggi Gamlin villages.
In the intervening night of May 1 and 2, at least a dozen masked police personnel raided and searched several houses at Laggi Gamlin village without identifying themselves and without showing producing any search warrants. The all-male police team also forcibly entered and searched houses where women were allegedly sleeping.
As part of confidence-building measures and to maintain goodwill between villagers and the administration, normally, concerned Gaon Buras/Gaon Buris (GBs) or political interpreters (PIs) are informed in advance to rule out any sort of confrontation and to avoid law and order problem. However, all established norms and procedures were by-passed in this case, the letter reads.
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Stating that village folks were unaware of the reasons behind the raids, the ISG demanded that related case and suspects, if any, be informed. It further demanded arrest and search warrant be produced as per procedure.
The ISG has also alleged politically motivated vendetta by the ruling party and presumably carried out at the behest of the BJP’s contesting candidate Nyamar Karbak as several similar raids have been carried out in Tego Gamlin and Laggi Gamlin -— the ancestral village of the National People’s Party contesting candidate Jarpum Gamlin.
“If immediate action is not taken, we will have to move the judiciary (high court) for redressal of our genuine grievances. The incident is aimed at intimidating the law-abiding citizens,” said Jarpum Gamlin, while adding that police administration should not indulge in nepotism while maintaining law and order in the area.
“I have majority of the youths supporting my leadership, so it’s shocking that only two villages out of more than 55 villages were targeted,” Gamlin added.
