East Khasi Hills DC asks for more central forces to avoid violence during polls

Existing CAPFs are deployed judiciously, and the district administration will ensure that police stations are not targeted or threatened, said DC SC Sadhu

The Deputy Commissioner of East Khasi Hills, SC Sadhu today sought more companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in Shillong, Meghalaya and other parts of the district for the smooth conduct of polls.

SC Sadhu, who is also the Returning Officer for the Shillong Parliamentary seat, has made the request considering the recent incidents of violence in the district.

A police vehicle was set on fire by miscreants at Mawlai Police Station yesterday morning and bodies of L Esan Sing and L Sujit Dutta were recovered from the roadside at Ichamati and Dalda respectively on March 27.

He said that existing CAPFs are deployed judiciously, and the district administration will ensure that police stations are not targeted or threatened. There are around 25 vulnerable polling booths.

The Deputy Commissioner stated that security has been tightened at government institutions such as police stations and beat houses in response to the incident at Mawlai beat house and that measures are being made to guarantee that similar situations do not occur again.

He said that the district administration is closely monitoring the law and order situation and that because maintaining law and order is important for conducting elections, requests for protests and sit-in protests are considered on an individual basis.

Sadhu stated that the request for non-political public rallies and sit-in demonstrations will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

The Meghalaya Linguistic Minority Development Forum Shillong (MLMDFS) has requested permission to organise a sit-in protest on April 7 against the murder of two labourers in Ichamati. Besides, MLMDFS, many other organisations have also requested permission for the same.

Permission for the April 7th protest has not been given yet, said Sadhu.

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