Darjeeling police complete formalities to drop charges against Morcha members
Darjeeling, Nov. 30.TT: The Darjeeling
police have completed the formalities of withdrawing all 382 cases
filed by the state government against Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters
during the course of the party’s four-year-old agitation for statehood.
An agreement signed by the Centre,
state and the Morcha on July 18, 2011 had provided for the review and
the withdrawal of the cases registered by the government during the
agitation.
The process of
withdrawing the cases was expedited following the meeting between a
Morcha delegation and home secretary Basudeb Banerjee in Calcutta
recently.
“We have completed
the formalities for the withdrawal of cases and the list will be
forwarded to the home department tomorrow,” Kunal Aggarwal, the
superintendent of police of Darjeeling, told The Telegraph today.
Although Aggarwal
refused to divulge the details of the list, sources said 382 cases had
been listed for withdrawal. They said the Morcha was upset with the
delay in quashing the charges against the supporters though more than a
year had passed since the agreement was signed.
“The Morcha raised
the issue during a meeting between a delegation of the party and home
secretary Basudeb Banerjee in Calcutta last week. Later, senior
Darjeeling police officers were summoned to Calcutta and asked to
complete the formalities for the withdrawal of the cases speedily,” said
a source.
Sources said the cases would be construed as withdrawn once the home department gave the nod.
This is the second
instance of the government taking proactive action in the past few days
in assuaging the Morcha’s feelings. The home secretary had come to
Darjeeling on Monday and held discussions with elected members of the
GTA Sabha on the delay in the transfer of 57 subjects to the hill body
from the state government. The meeting appeared to have ended confusion
over the transfer process with Banerjee clarifying that the 57 subjects
had been clubbed into 40 departments and 27 had already been shifted to
the GTA.
Asked about the
cases, Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri said: “We have been told (at
the Calcutta meeting) that the cases would be withdrawn soon and we are
keeping a close watch on the developments.”
The Morcha
supporters were booked by the government for blocking highways and
besieging government offices and police stations. Cases were also
slapped on members of Gorkhaland Personnel — the lathi-wielding
voluntary force raised by the Morcha purportedly to control public and
traffic during the party’s public meetings.
The GLP members,
who had invited criticism for taking up the role of moral police during
the agitation, were booked for wearing uniforms resembling the country’s
armed forces and also for setting up camps at government properties.
During the
four-year long agitation, the Morcha supporters were also accused of
burning down the houses of rival parties and stopping them from
returning to the hills. Even today, many leaders of the GNLF are still
holed up in the plains as they can’t return home because of the Morcha’s
alleged terror tactics.
The Morcha members
also face cases filed by individuals. Police sources, however, made it
clear that the government was not in a position to withdraw such cases.
“The Morcha
supporters face charges in two types of cases. The cases registered by
the government against the agitators come in the first category. The
second type of cases are those filed by individuals and opposition
leaders. While the government can withdraw the cases it had registered,
it will have no say in the cases filed by the opposition leaders or
individuals against the Morcha supporters,” said the source.
“There are no such provisions in the legal system of the country,” he added.
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