The Confederation of Meghalaya Social Organisations (CoMSO) on Friday morning staged a surprise protest in front of the gate of the State Secretariat, before police asked them to disperse within five minutes.
The brief protest by CoMSO was to reiterate their demand to introduce Inner Line Permit (ILP) and came in the backdrop of the recent incident in Sohra wherein a tourist, Raja Raghuvanshi from Indore, Madhya Pradesh was killed by his wife–Sonam Raghuvanshi.
The organisation has demanded from the state government to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in all the districts of Meghalaya as directed by the centre, to find out and deport illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Chairperson of the CoMSO, Roy Kupar Synrem said that the absence of ILP in Meghalaya has led to people randomly entering the state and committing crimes.
Roy also questioned the centre the reason it is not implementing ILP in Meghalaya. He said that if the state had ILP it would have been easier to find out Sonam and her co-accused even if they had left the state.
“Sonam entered the state she came with her husband. But when she left she did it alone, wouldn’t this have been a clue for the police?” Synrem asked.
He also said that the theft of the ATM in Mawkriah where lakhs of rupees were stolen was done by people from outside the state.
The CoMSO chairperson also said that the resolution passed by the Meghalaya Assembly to implement ILP is useless. “They are the voice of the people of our state but it is useless when the centre does not respect the people’s voice,” he added.
He said that the MRSSA, Amendment Act, 2020 which is similar to the ILP but the government of India returned the Bill back to the state. Synrem also expressed disappointment over the government’s failure to implement the Migrant Workers (Amendment) Bill, 2024.
Synrem also said that the CoMSO had sought time from the government on various occasions to discuss the issues like ILP and MRSSA but to no avail.
“We don’t want to come out on the streets every time. But if the government does not meet us we have no options but to do so,” he added.
In the wake of the protest, the East Khasi Hills District Magistrate has promulgated order under Section 163 BNSS to prevent holding of demonstration or rally within 200 metres radius of the Meghalaya Secretariat building. Additional Secretariat and Raj Bhavan.
The order prohibits carrying of arms and any other lethal weapons which can likely cause grievous injury or harm to any person(s).
The district magistrate said demonstration causes obstruction, hinders the movement of traffic and leads to crowding and congestion and may also result in disturbance of public peace and tranquillity.
Violation of the order will attract penal provisions under Section 223 of the BINS and any other Section as deemed fit and appropriate, the order said.
