BISWANATH CHARIALI, Aug 7 - Three old police stations viz., Gohpur, Sootea and Dhekiajuli whose names are associated with the memory of the freedom struggle, have been preserved by the Department of Archaeology, Government of Assam, but at the same time the people of greater Behali have expressed their resentment over the alleged negligence on the government�s part meted out to the historic Behali police station under Behali Legislative Constituency in the Biswanath district.
The said police station was set up in 1913. It is worth mentioning that responding to the call of Darrang District Congress on September 20, 1942, freedom fighters from Mazgaon-Hatibandha, Rangchali-Behali, Baralimara-Jamuwani villages proceeded to Behali police station from three directions. The processions were led by some of the most famous freedom fighters of the time including Chabilal Upadhyay, Bagiram Saikia, Molan Chandra Sharma, Bharat Chandra Das, Keshav Chandra Sharma, Sarada Prasanna Dutta, Magur Borah, Rupram Baruah etc. When they arrived at the police station, the excitement of the rally caused a stir in front of the police station. However, the Officer-in-Charge of the police station Sukumar Chakraborty did not order firing upon the agitators on that day as he had reportedly made a promise to his mother that there would be no firing upon his countrymen. Taking advantage of the situation, Tileshwari Mahanta of Hatibandha village managed to hoist the Tricolour removing the Union Jack of the British Empire in front of the police station. Thus, victory came to the patriots without having to shed any blood. Unfortunately, the old building of this historic police station was dismantled in 1980 and the present building of Behali police station was constructed by the Housing department.
A group of social workers, Sahitya Akademi Award winning litterateurs, media personnel, freedom fighters etc., including Geeta Upadhyay, Dilip Kumar Baruah, Premananda Mahanta, Pradeep Kumar Sharma, Deepak Sharma and others have urged the Assam Government to declare Behali police station a heritage site and also to install monuments and statues of freedom fighters in the police station premises in order to pay respect to the freedom fighters and the freedom struggle.
