Shillong: Pressure groups violates Section 144 while taking out protest rally demanding ILP

Protesters from five pressure groups marched to the Secretariat on Tuesday, November 1, in defiance of section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which forbids gatherings of more than five people, in protest of the state government's refusal to respond to the nine-point charter of demands, which includes the implementation of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) in the state.

The Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC), East Jaintia National Council (EJNC), Jaintia Students Movement (JSM), Hynniewtrep Achik National Movement (HANM), and Confederation of Ri Bhoi People (CoRP) launched the "Save Hynniewtrep Mission" on Tuesday, November 1.

To avoid any unexpected incidents, the state capital was also placed under strict protection.
Later, Lahkmen Rymbui, the home minister, also sent an invitation to the five pressure group leaders for a discussion of the concerns. They expressed dissatisfaction with the meeting's outcome, claiming that "He (Rymbui) could not take any decision as the issues relate to the political department, which is not under his control."
In a statement to reporters, HYC general secretary Roykupar Synrem stated that deputy chief minister Prestone Tynsong had urged all pressure group members to visit the secretariat instead of beating up individuals in the streets. 

“Based on that call given by the deputy CM, we have decided to march to the secretariat to meet and put question to them (ministers) as to what has happen to the resolutions related to the ILP and Khasi language, what happen to the report of the one man commission of inquiry which stated that the police are involved in the killing of ex-HNLC leader Cheristerfield Thangkhiew, what happen to the various charges of corruption, as to what the government is doing regarding the unemployment, job reservation policy as well as repealing of the casino act,” he said.

“We came with that motive and objective to meet the people who are representing us but sadly we came to know that from now onwards if you want to meet your representative, you have to seek permission from the deputy commissioner. This is unfortunate as we have not had this kind of a situation before,” he added.
Condemning the implementation of 144 CrPC throughout the state capital, Synrem claimed that this was nothing more than a government ruse to keep the public's voice at home by preventing people from taking to the streets to protest how it was operating.

"You cannot enact laws to prevent the people from protesting or from showing and exercising their rights," Synrem remarked, referring to Supreme Court rulings. We state unequivocally that we will not obey any laws of this nature or any orders issued by the district magistrate.

When asked, Synrem said that actually they did not want to meet the home minister since they already knew it will not be a fruitful meeting and it will be just a waste of time. “But at the end we respect him as a home minister so we just went and informed him that today we have launched this Save Hynniewtrep Mission and that in the coming days the five organizations will further intensify agitations,” he said.  

Meanwhile, the HYC leader further alerted the state government and the district administration to be prepared for more and more surprise agitations.

“We will be announcing a series of agitations. Our members and volunteers will go to every place that the chief minister visits, that the deputy chief minister visits or any minister visit whether it is for their own party meeting or for official meetings - to remind and ask them as to what happened to these points of demands,” he said.

He said that the timeframe put forth by the five pressure groups in the first phase of agitation is for the government to fulfill the demands before the model code of conduct is made effective in the state.
“During this period there will be a series of agitations. After the model code of conduct is announced, we will sit and discuss our future course of action,” Synrem stated.