Assam eviction drive: CM justifies police action; institutes inquiry against photographer
“Eviction drive was initiated on an agreed principle that the landless will be provided 2 acres each as per land policy, and the representatives had agreed. We expected no resistance but when about 10,000 people gheraoed Assam Police and used violence, the police were left with no choice but to retaliate,” he said.
A day after three people died in a clash between policemen and locals at Assam’s Sipajhar, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said that the decision to conduct an eviction drive was taken in consultation with local representatives of the area and the police’s lathi-charge was a retaliatory action against the mob attack.
“Eviction drive was initiated on an agreed principle that the landless will be provided 2 acres each as per land policy, and the representatives had agreed. We expected no resistance but when about 10,000 people gheraoed Assam Police and used violence, the police were left with no choice but to retaliate,” he said.
Speaking about the government photographer, Bijay Bania, who was arrested on Thursday for attacking a protestor during the incident, Sarma said that an inquiry has been instituted on the matter. “We will carry out an inquiry on how the cameraman came into the scene and why he tried to overpower that particular person. We have also ordered a judicial probe into the entire incident.”
On Thursday, an eviction drive had escalated to a clash when police personnel in riot gear lathi-charged villagers who were protesting against their eviction for allegedly encroaching on government land. The clash left three people dead and around 20 people, including 9 policemen, injured.
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