The Meghalaya Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has closed the case against former East Khasi Hills Superintendent of Police Rituraj Ravi for allegedly trying to forcefully evict a woman, Bindas Syiem, who was staging a hunger strike in Shillong on the night of June 9.
The MHRC said that neither the alleged victim (Syiem) nor the complainant against Ravi had turned up for the hearing into the case, which was scheduled for today.
The commission had already directed Ravi to appear before it on June 20 and had also sought a detailed report from the Director General of Police into the matter.
Syiem had been on hunger strike in protest over a dilapidated road. On the evening of June 9, Ravi had gone to the site of the protest at the parking lot near the Secretariat with the ostensible intention of taking Syiem for a medical examination given her lack of food. This was resolutely opposed by Syiem and her supporters.
“In the absence of the complainant or the aggrieved person(s), the case cannot proceed. Under the circumstances, we have no alternative but to close the case, which we hereby do,” the commission stated in its order.
Syiem, who is fighting for reconstruction of the Nongpoh-Umden-Sonapur Road, ended her fast on June 12. Ravi, meanwhile, was transferred on June 14 and made Commandant of the 6th Meghalaya Police Battalion.
