Protest held against attempt to malign Meghalaya’s image
Shillong, June 10: The demand for inner line permit (ILP) in Meghalaya has gained fresh momentum following revelation of involvement of outside elements in the murder of a tourist, who along with his wife were on their so-called honeymoon trip to Sohra.
The people of Meghalaya had been on a receiving end due to barrage of aspersions cast on them, and for that matter entire North East, till five persons including the deceased’s wife and her alleged paramour were nabbed within seven days as a result of a meticulous investigation into the case by Meghalaya police.
On Tuesday, a protest to condemn the attempt to malign the image of Meghalaya was held at Khyndailad where the age-old demand for ILP was reiterated as well by the protesters.
The protest media slugfest against peace-loving people of Meghalaya through misreporting and misrepresenting of facts about the tragic death of Raja Raghuvanshi was called by a senior citizen, Mary Victoria Marwein, a resident of Lawsohtun, Block-4 Shillong.
People from all walks of life including leaders from different civil society organisations took part in the protest.
“We are here to protest against the attempt to defame our state and the people. As mothers, we are concerned that the negative narratives will affect our children and loved ones, who are working and studying outside the state,” Marwein told reporters.
“I urge the state government and police department to take stern action against the family of the couple and those involved in tarnishing the image of the state. We demand that they should publicly apologise to the people of Meghalaya,” he said.
Kunal Murdani, hailing from Assam, said, “This entire episode was put in bad light by not properly investigating and the media just jumped into conclusions… it branded Meghalaya as ‘crime prone hill’. I think the media should abstain from such captions and statements where without any investigation and information they just defamed a state’s integrity and safety of the people.”
Murdani, however, said he doesn’t think that there is any decline in the tourist inflow despite the attempt to malign the image of the state.
“I can see lots of tourists walking behind with their suitcases so I don’t think there is any decline in the tourist inflow… I think we should bring in more tourists… where people can come to Shillong safely, enjoy themselves and the beauty of Shillong,” he added.
Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) president Roykupar Synrem has demanded the state government to immediately implement the ILP for regulating the entry of people from outside into the state. According to him, ILP would act as a strong deterrent for people who come to the state with the intention to commit a crime.
“In light of the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi at Sohra and after yesterday’s breakthrough into the case, we came to know that people from outside the state are responsible for committing murder. Not only this incident, we have seen the ATM robbery case at Mawkriah and other incidents where people from outside the state commit crimes and run to other states,” Synrem said.
Reiterating HYC’s demand for ILP, he said had ILP been in place, a system would have recorded all details of everyone entering the state, which would create a deterrence in the mind of any probable criminals.
“As of now any person can enter Meghalaya, commit a crime and run away, creating a problem for police to track them,” he said, adding, “That is why we are demanding that ILP should be implemented in Meghalaya.”
Earlier on Monday, the leader of opposition Mukul Sangma had asserted the need to put a strong deterrence to prevent people from making Meghalaya as a destination to commit crimes and urged the government for immediate implementation of the Meghalaya Residents, Safety and Security Act (MRSSA), 2016.
