SHILLONG, OCT 5: The midnight raid in Jaiaw on August 19 has triggered a demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe, with 17-North Shillong MLA Adelbert Nongrum submitting a master dossier to the home department alleging serious statutory violations.
Nongrum told reporters on Monday that he has submitted a comprehensive memorandum to the Deputy Chief Minister in-charge Home, seeking an independent inquiry and warning of legal action in higher forums if no transparent action is taken.
The dossier has also been marked to the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary, DGP, and State and National Human Rights Commissions.
The MLA said the complaint is anchored on the ground report filed by Seng Samla Jaiaw Pyllun (SSJP), which was present during the operation. According to SSJP, about 15 rounds of tear gas were fired indiscriminately in a congested residential pocket right next to H. Gordon Roberts Hospital, endangering patients and causing panic and breathing distress among sleeping residents.
Nongrum alleged that community coordination was ignored and the operation was carried out by masked, heavily armed personnel without nameplates or search warrants.
“Heavily armed men entered our neighborhood at midnight, completely masked, lacking visible nameplates, and refusing to produce any statutory search orders,” he said, adding that residents were left “shocked and deeply traumatised.”
He further claimed to have video proof of personnel misbehaving with local youth.
“We possess definitive video evidence… proving that uniform-clad personnel deployed highly offensive, obscene gestures and directed extreme profanities at executive members of the Seng Samla Jaiaw Pyllun… This residential area is not an active battlefield,” Nongrum stated.
The memorandum contrasted the midnight mobilization with the alleged absence of police during a Black Flag Bike Rally on the same day, despite protocol requiring deployment for peaceful assembly.
Legally, the dossier invokes Sections 55, 108 and 109 of the Meghalaya Police Act, 2010 — relating to public decorum and disclosure, dereliction of duty, and unlawful midnight entry and violence — punishable by up to six months imprisonment, besides violation of the Supreme Court’s D.K. Basu guidelines.
Drawing parallel with the 2018 Them Iew Mawlong unrest, Nongrum said several localities under his constituency had seen indiscriminate use of tear gas and projectiles, leaving several Khasi youth permanently disabled — some losing their noses to canister hits, others losing body parts — without any compensation till date.
“A routine internal departmental inquiry or a standard police SIT is completely insufficient when the integrity of the law enforcement machinery itself is the subject of dispute,” he said.
He warned that failure to order a CBI probe, compensate the 2018 victims and penalise errant personnel under the Meghalaya Police Act will compel him to approach higher statutory authorities.
By Our Reporter
