An FIR has been registered against a group of unidentified persons for criminal defamation, inciting communal tension, harassment and stalking hawkers at Laitumkhrah.
Short video clips of many street vendors telling videographers that social-activist, Angela Rangad had provided them permission to conduct business had gone viral on social media.
The Greater Shillong Progressive Hawkers and Street Vendors Association said some hawkers at Laitumkhrah were being harassed by miscreants who made them take out their identity cards, and were being forced to speak and answer questions while being videographed without their consent.
“The hawkers were visibly scared and were being made to repeat tutored responses in an attempt to malign the image of their organisation particularly one of their invitee member Angela Rangad,” general secretary of the association, Shane Thabah said.
He said that while status quo order by the Meghalaya High Court is operational about the long-standing genuine hawkers and street vendors of the State, the miscreants had taken law into their own hands violating the court directives and creating a sense of insecurity among the hawkers and general citizenry at large.
Thabah said that the district administration on August 8 had invited the association for talks about hawking and street vending in Laitumkhrah area and to plan for a participatory exercise in regulation and organisation of vending activity.
“These miscreants refused to give their name and even deleted videos of their criminal activity which was recorded by the bystanders. Moreover, near Fire Brigade, these miscreants violently threw away vendors goods,” he said.
The association meanwhile has urged the administration to ensure security, especially patrolling in these areas.
