SHILLONG:
The commotion that subsequently led to stone pelting and torching of vehicles in Tura on July 24 forced the West Garo Hills district administration to impose Section 144 of CrPC and night curfew, resulting in the closure of schools, wine stores, and petrol pumps on July 25.
The situation in the district was brought under control at 11 pm yesterday, after four hours of constant struggle to bring the unruly mob under control on July 24 evening. however, as a precautionary measure, night curfew and Section 144 were imposed.
According to the DC Jagdish Chelani, schools and petrol pumps will be reopened from July 26 while wine stores will continue to be closed. He further informed that Section 144 and night curfew will continue to remain in force.
However, offices and local businesses, including markets functioned as usual on Tuesday, with no disruption.
“We have put up requisite security for the district; six sectors of BSF under the command in West Garo Hills have been requisite, including the 2nd MLP battalion and district police. We have sufficient security in the district; we are keeping a close watch,” Chelani said.
Furthermore, the DC also informed that 18 people have been arrested so far, though the official arrest report is yet to be submitted. “The main perpetrators have been identified and widely known to the public; they are on the run,” he added.
Slamming the individuals involved in instigating the crowd, the DC said, “Those parties who instigated the crowd for their narrow political motives are people of the lowest order; they will not be forgiven – they will spend the rest of their days either in jails or courts.”
When asked about the timeline to lift the curfew, Chelani said that they would still have to review the situation before deciding to lift Section 144 and the night curfew.