|
Meghalaya : Agitation over removal of Justice Baruah |
 |
Former Lok Sabha Speaker and Nationalist Congress Party leader Purno A. Sangma has announced his support to the agitation for the removal of Justice (Retd) D.N. Baruah, who is heading the inquiry commission into last year’s firing in Williamnagar in the East Garo Hills.
The pressure on the government to shift the judge has been mounting from various organisations, particularly the Garo Students Union (GSU), for the past few months.
The union alleged that the judge is biased and it has lost faith in him.
Appu Marak, publicity secretary of the GSU, said it received a letter from the state government expressing its inability to replace the judge.
Sangma said he met Chief Minister J.D. Rymbai and requested him to replace Justice Baruah as the people of Garo hills had lost faith in him. There is enough evidence that the judge is biased, he added.
“Usually, advocates cross-examine the witnesses. But in this case, the judge himself acts as defence lawyer and cross-examines,” Sangma alleged.
On September 30 last year, nine persons were killed and several injured in police firing in Williamnagar, headquarters of East Garo Hills district and Tura, headquarters of the West Garo Hills. The police opened fire on the people who were agitating against the government’s decision to implement the select committee’s recommendations on the Meghalaya Board of School Education.
|
