TEZPUR, June 4 � Registering strong protest against the alleged harassment of innocent people living in the northern belt of Sonitpur district by the police and security forces, the Tezpur Bodo Sahitya Sabha on Wednesday held a mass rally at the Batachipur Milon High School.
It may be mentioned here that in the aftermath of the carnage by NDFB (S) militants on December 23 last year in which about 70 people were killed, security forces, including the Assam Rifles, CRPF and BSF, were deployed in the Batachipur area to curb the ultra menace in the area.
The security personnel have been involved in counter-insurgency operations since the last five months. However, during this period, many poor and innocent people, including social workers, have allegedly been harassed. This has irked the common people of the area, thereby affecting the good will between the security forces and the civilians built up through various programmes.
The recent incident of the alleged physical and mental torture on a Bodo Sahitya Sabha member has added to the resentment of the people of the area.
The mass rally on Wednesday, attended by about 5,000 people, started from the Batachipur Milon High School playground. The protesters raised slogans like �We want justice,� �Stop torture on innocent people,� �Bodos are also Indians,� etc.
Earlier, a protest meeting was also held in the High School playground. The central and district-level office-bearers of the Bodo Sahitya Sabha, including Liladhar Boro and Jailen Boro, and the secretary of the Sonitpur district ABSU, Khaneswar Boro were present in the meeting.
Addressing the gathering, the president of the Tezpur Bodo Sahitya Sabha, Liladhar Boro held the Government responsible for the insurgency problems in the region. Stating that the Bodo society has no objection to the measures taken to curb the insurgency problem in the Bodo belt, he said that the literary body has been appalled by incidents in which innocent people were killed in fake encounters.
�We have statistics that till date more than 5,000 innocent and peace-loving Bodo people have been killed or arrested and many women have been raped in the so-called counter-insurgency operations. This will not solve the problem, rather it will make the situation more critical. Over the years, we have seen that after such unnecessary harassment of innocent people, youths start joining insurgent outfits,� Boro said, adding that in the North-eastern region, the insurgency problem has been aggravated by the wrong policies of the police and security forces.
�We expect establishment of peace by the security forces, but unfortunately, the security forces have been found disturbing peace and harmony and violating human rights, which should be stopped,� he said.
