A Guwahati court recently ordered the police to file a case against Assam Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma for making inflammatory remarks during an eviction drive in Garukhuti village in the state’s Darrang district last year.
Assam Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma allegedly called the eviction drive an “act of revenge.”
The Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate court directed the Dispur police station to file a case against the Assam CM based on a petition filed by Congress Lok Sabha MP Abdul Khaleque.
According to MP Khaleque’s complaint, CM Sarma stated that the eviction drive in Garukhuti was “revenge” for the 1983 incidents in which some youths were killed during the Assam Agitation. He filed a complaint with the court, citing police inaction in failing to file an FIR against the CM.
According to a court order issued by Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate Biswadeep Baruah, as reported by NDTV, the officer-in-charge of the Dispur police station was directed to file a case against CM Sarma.
The order read: “The OC Dispur police station is directed to register a case on the allegations mentioned in the complaint and investigate the matter fairly and to submit the Final Form at the earliest.”
“The police had failed in the discharge of its duty by failing to register the FIR. The veracity of the allegations is not something which can be enquired prior to the registration of the FIR. failing to even register the FIR, it appears that the police has failed in the discharge of its duty,” the order added.
The state government’s eviction drive to remove “illegal encroachers” at Garukhuti in Assam’s Darrang district turned violent, killing two people, including a 12-year-old.
The Congress MP accused CM Sarma of making communal statements against a specific community in order to justify the eviction drive, which left over 7,000 people homeless.
In his complaint, MP Khaleque stated: “The eviction drive had seen “brutal killings” as well as homes being “burnt to the ground. calling the horrendous acts (deaths of two civilians) as revenge, Sarma has not only justified the killings and arson committed there, the legality of which is sub-judice before the Hon’ble Gauhati High Court, but he has gone far ahead and communalised the whole exercise — the target of which, was the Muslim population living there.”
