Guwahati: Two people were killed yesterday when police fired at protestors in Assam near the border with Nagaland, leading to curfew in Golaghat district, officials said.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has ordered a judicial probe into the firing, while regional political party AGP has called for a 12-hour dawn-to-dusk shutdown today.
Hundreds of men and women took to the streets in Rongajan and Arengapathar areas in the district to denounce “police atrocities” on Tuesday which left one person dead and 20 injured. The trouble erupted over a border conflict between the two states.
Yesterday, police first used batons to disperse the crowd but failed to restore order. The crowd became unruly and attacked many vehicles on the roads in Rongajan. They also targeted public property, a police official said. This forced police to fire at the mob, he said. Of the 14 injured, nine were taken to the Jorhat Medical College Hospital, said Assam Home Commissioner G D Tripathy.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi blamed the central government for the trouble along the Assam-Nagaland border and said the Narendra Modi government had not taken the issue seriously.
“It was unfortunate that one person died. We have ordered an inquiry and a senior police official has been suspended,” Gogoi said and added that he had taken up the matter with his Nagaland counterpart T R Zeliang. He asked police to use non-lethal weapons like rubber bullets and water cannons while dealing with mass protests.
IANS
