Brutal eviction drive in Assam, 2 killed

GUWAHATI: Police bullets allegedly killed two people, and at least nine policemen were injured in clashes during a controversial drive to evict “illegal settlers” in Assam’s Darrang district on Thursday, sparking condemnation and prompting the government to set up a probe.

Police said a mob of nearly 2,000 people attacked personnel during the eviction drive at Dholpur village in Sipajhar, forcing security men to lathi charge the crowd and open fire, resulting in the deaths and injuries.

But visuals of the incident showed scores of policemen firing at unseen targets behind a mass of trees, huts and chaff, and a man in vest and lungi chasing a policeman and a photographer -a man employed with the district administration -- down a dusty slope. Policemen are then seen surrounding the local resident, who collapses to the ground due to an apparent gunshot, raining him with blows of the stick. When the melee clears, the man is seen lying motionless with an apparent gunshot wound on his chest even as the photographer, later identified as Bijay Shankar Baniya, kicks and jumps on the apparently lifeless body. Gunfire rings in the background. Later, visuals show policemen trying to pull Baniya back and carrying the body away.

The visuals were tweeted by some state lawmakers and local residents, but their origin was not clear. HT couldn’t independently verify the visuals.

The eviction drive was being conducted in a region largely inhabited by Bengali-speaking Muslims. Baniya was arrested late in the evening, said police.

Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma appeared to back the police. “Police are doing their duty. As per my information, people attacked police with machetes, spears and other things,” he said, making it clear that the eviction drive will continue on Friday.

Later in the evening, the government instituted an inquiry by a retired Gauhati high court judge. A formal notification detailing terms of reference of the inquiry would be issued later, officials said.

Darrang district superintendent of police, Sushanta Biswa Sarma, identified the two dead men as Saddam Hussain and Sheikh Forid. He said that two policemen sustained serious injuries and were shifted to Guwahati while the others were getting treatment at Mangaldai, the district headquarters. The SP is the brother of chief minister Sarma.

The killings triggered a political war with the Congress and other Opposition parties pushing for a judicial probe. “Assam is on state-sponsored fire. I stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the state- no children of India deserve this,” tweeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

The controversial eviction was first mooted when Sarma visited the area on June 7 and instructed the district administration to clear the area occupied by “illegal settlers” for a community farming project for young people hailing from the state’s indigenous communities.

But local residents said they were living in the area since the 1970s and had valid government documents to prove their ownership of the plots.