Meghalaya Police's Alleged Assault on Three Teenagers Raises Public Outcry

NEW DELHI: Meghalaya police’s alleged assault on three teenagers in Tura circuit house has raised a public outcry against highhandedness by the men in uniform. The three teenagers, including a nineteen-year old girl, were allegedly assaulted by two police commandos in civilian dress on Tuesday at around 3.30 pm.

Two Meghalaya police personnel came in a private Maruti car towards the circuit house road and reportedly whipped out their pistols and began to assault two 16-year-old boys one of whom was waiting for his mother and elder sister to go shopping for Christmas to Tura bazaar.

It is alleged that these two commandos tried to forcibly drag away one of the teenage boys in the car.On hearing cries for help, the family rushed to rescue him only to be threatened by the armed policemen.

The teenage girl, third teenager to be assaulted, was the sister of the boy Tangkame R Sangma. She was punched in the face by one of the commandos when she tried to rescue her younger brother from the clutches of the two armed personnel.

"My brother had just come from school with his annual report card and had an early lunch because we planned to go Christmas shopping. He had just gone to the road's end when he was attacked by two armed men who, we did not know, were police personnel," the girl said.

"When they tried to drag away my younger brother towards the vehicle, I refused to let him go. Then one of the commandos threatened to shoot me. He hit me on my shoulders and then punched me in the face," said the victim who was later taken to a hospital for medical attention.

It was only after Additional Superintendent of Police Bruno A. Sangma intervened that the assault stopped. In fact, he was passing by the site when the residents of the area stopped his car and informed him about the incident. One of the attackers is alleged to be part of his security detail.

While the assaulted woman has filed a police complaint against her attackers in Araimile police station and the case has been forwarded to the women’s cell, police personnel from the Tura police station allegedly refused to allow the girl to file another complaint against the snatching of her brother’s phone by one of the two attackers who did not return the device.

On the other hand, West Garo Hills district SP, Mukesh Kr Singh, claimed that the two police personnel were on a “special” duty in the area to look out for suspected movement of militants.

“They spotted some boys in camouflage and tried to question them when the altercation took place in which our boys sustained some injuries. One of them had damage to his fingers,” claimed the police chief.

In fact, the two cops who allegedly took part in the attack filed a counter FIR against the girl and the other two victims at the Tura police station on Tuesday night.