Dear Sir/Madam Kindly find below the press release that also indignantly ask questions in response to the malevolent questions of vested interests . I wonder who shall give these answers . I guess one day the people shall speak and all shall listen ! Regards Pravin Bakshi Deputy Commissioner West Garo Hills Press Release Questions that counter questions ! There is a move from vested interests and motivated sections of the society to twist and manipulate facts and present to the public to garner support for the 25 arrested volunteers of Garo Hills State Movement Committee . A section of people in their manipulative ploy to drum up support for the perpetrators of the reprehensible attack on the office of the Deputy Commissioner and DRDA , West Garo Hills , Tura and to hoodwink the public have attempted to convey the misleading impression to the people that the action has been a crackdown on the statehood activists . It is utterly false .The GHSMC leaders and followers have been booked for their crime of criminal trespass in our office , defiance and violation of Section 144 prohibitory orders , criminal manhandling of women and our staff and intimidation and threat of the staff . The staff and particularly women were threatened and shouted at with such vehemence that many of them were left trembling with fear and many broke down and started crying . While on their way out the unscrupulous miscreants pelted stones on our lady magistrates . Till now no arrested volunteer has been booked under MPDA but they have been transported to Jowai for their own security and safety and for security of the jail as per inputs from jail authorities . They have been booked under relevant sections of the law for criminal trespass , criminal intimidation , threatening with dire consequences and outraging the modesty of women . Some people are irresponsibly commenting that they have been treated as hardened criminals . It is difficult to believe that such comments are coming from responsible persons who know under what sections under which they have been booked . They have been arrested for their crime which was well planned and clearly orchestrated at the behest of some profoundly sinister and conniving interests who wished to remain in the closet while inciting violence and mayhem . For the sections the volunteers have been booked - petty but notorious offenders are booked who have no respect for the honour and dignity of women and who would indulge in cowardly acts of manhandling to strike fear in their hearts . Questions are always best answered with questions . I wish to pose some for the mob of motivated interests . Does the public know that these volunteers had earlier on 10th September , 2013 travelled to the plain belt areas to create fear and panic there which could have lead to a communal flare up causing immense hardship and torture to all people of West Garo Hills ? Do they know that when their plan for creating communal mayhem was foiled , in their frustration and to teach the staff of our office a lesson , they barged into our office with clear directions from some manipulative leader to break their spirit and morale ? Did they think even once for the female staff and their family before touching and assaulting them ? Do the ladies who came under attack have no self respect and honour or were they considered playthings in the hands of their assaulters ? Don’t they have families and husbands and what must have crossed their minds on hearing and reading about the horrendous treatment meted out to their near and dear ones ? Is this how grown up youth behave with women senior to them in age and experience of life ? Is this how volunteers of the movement behave with people or women who do not agree with them or at best are simply performing their duties for the growth and development of Garo Hills ? Will they thrash people defying their diktats on the streets even if they are senior citizens or even if they are ladies who are from outside and have no idea of the happenings ? Will miscreants and hoodlums shout down any contrary views and assault people and women who do not believe in their ideology and then claim to be freedom fighters ? Is the public aware that in the name of Garoland several lakhs of rupees has been extorted from the markets of Tura by using fear and intimidation and elsewhere as per confidential police reports and revelations of prominent senior citizens in a meeting held recently in front of all people ? Is it possible to provide security everywhere ? What will happen if households are attacked , churches and places of worship are attacked if they have divergent opinion ? These are questions which beg for an answer or else there shall be an irreversible descent into chaos and moral degradation wherein people shall be manhandled and assaulted for their beliefs and the offenders shall still call themselves democratic . Democracy means freedom of expression , constructive dialogue and healthy debate . It is not imposition of views and beliefs and self believing definitions of molestation and manhandling which are archaic and medievalist . Today I met the parents of the arrested students and informed them that out of 25 “student volunteers” 15-16 are not even students currently . I asked them how would they react if 70-80 miscreants barge into their houses and slap the owner or men and manhandle the sisters and daughters and lock up the lady of the house ? How would they react if their honour as women are at stake and if youth and miscreants misbehave with them ? I questioned them why they are not availing bail from the court as they should and who is preventing them from taking bail ? I asked them whether the chief conspirator and architect of the violence is helping them with bail and court matters ? It seems it is not happening . However , the undersigned offered them legal aid for the parents who could not afford the legal expenditure involved but explained clearly that what has happened in our offices is a crime against the dignity and respect , honour and reputation of women who had risked their well being to come to office dutifully and no one had any right to trample in their rights and invade their office to humiliate them . I also wish to probe further whether such attack and conduct is permissible in matrilineal Garo society ? Are offenders of women’s honour treated as freedom fighters ? Is this the state where I personally know four women Padma Shree awardees who have earned national acclaim for their work and convictions and still in the same state there are many places where women are not safe ? Questions always are the best answer to questions ! I urge media friends who are torchbearers and flag-bearers of freedom of expression to raise these questions with as much passion as I have . PRAVIN BAKSHI DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WEST GARO HILLS
Posted on: Mon, 23 Sep 2013 15:45:00 +0000
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