Tura, Oct 8th : The ongoing saga of the fight of the administration against the arrested Garo Hills State Movement Committee (GHSMC) continued today with news of all the twenty five being charge-sheeted. The administration has been at loggerheads with the activists ever since the fiasco at the office of the DC, West Garo Hills. The lawyers also alleged the administration of trying to influence the judiciary and ensuring the arrested activists did not get bail.
Jipson Marak, a senior lawyer of the Tura Bar Association and the lawyer for the accused GHSMC activists said that the Chargesheet for the case has been completed within a month of the arrests. He said, “The activists have been lodged in Jowai Jail for the last 15-20 days after being moved from Tura. In a record of sorts for the Police Department in the district, the charge-sheet has been submitted to the CJM within a month. While cases of rapists, murderers and militants take the whole 90 days and chargesheets are still due, in this case, the I/O has done an exceptional job in trying to ensure the case against immature students was done in the fastest possible time”.
The case is now set to be transferred after the chargesheet, but a copy is yet to be delivered to the lawyers. They are now set to move for bail after the guardians of the accused came to meet them in the afternoon today. Jipson said it was a simple case and most of the charges are fabricated and would not stand against strong opposition. Since the charges have already been filed, the lawyers are now looking to bring back the accused to Tura. It has now been confirmed that Augustine Marak, the GS of GHSMC has been booked under Meghalaya Preventive Detention Act (MPDA), while the others have been charged under other sections, which are yet to be confirmed.
The senior lawyer then proceeded to accuse the administration of bias and came down heavily on the DC of WGH, Pravin Bakshi. The lawyers have got a copy of the circular sent by the DC to various departments asking them to vehemently oppose any move to give bail to the accused in the case. Jipson said the DC was trying to influence the case and this was unconstitutional. He said the matter was in Court and as such acts like these would definitely influence the case itself.
According to the circular, the DC said that on behalf of the Government itself, they would oppose all move to grant bail to the accused. Jipson said that they have used the same circular to try and get bail for the activists. It also stated that the one blind arrested activist, Luckson A Sangma would not be opposed on humanitarian grounds, though he has been chargesheeted in the same case.
With the DC and the lawyers not on a definite warpath, things seem to be getting murky in the case. Though a chargesheet may have been filed, it will be a challenge for the administration to prove the charges correct. For now the opinion of the public is slowly turning towards the activists themselves. (SP News)
