Youngsters accuse Ashim Das and aides of beating them; ward commissioner throws counter

A young group of twenty-somethings went to Rangirkhari Police station and filed a complaint against the ward commissioner. Their version of the story is that they formed a group on social media in order to start a ‘Swaccha Silchar’ drive in the city and ensure cleanliness. “Since most of us were resident of ward number 18, we decided to start the drive from here. Our plan was to make the ward a model, which we would later follow in other places. We went to the deputy commissioner S Lakshmanan with a memorandum. We also met SMB chairman Niharendra Narayan Tagore. Since we wanted to start from ward number 18, he suggested us to go and meet the commissioner of that particular ward, and thus we went to meet Ashim Das.”

A member of the young brigade says that they went to meet Das at his shop but Das wasn’t available there, that is when a member called Das’ cell and spoke to him, “We discussed the plan with him and he was very encouraging and asked us to come and meet him on Saturday. We said okay we will come back to see him on Saturday and walked off from his shop. We were standing by the road and planning out way ahead and within minutes Das reached the spot and started demotivating us. He asked if we were from Silchar and all. We spoke to him and started walking away and within a few minutes he chased us again with a bunch of his workers and started beating the male members of the group,” says another member of the young brigade. As per the group members, Das and his men even raised their hands on the female members of the Swaccha Silchar team.

Das’ theory, on the other hand, is totally different. He says locals of Vidyasagar Sarani saw two couples getting intimate with their respective partners at around 11:30 in the morning. When the locals called on the couples and objected to their public display of affection, the girls retaliated saying, “Eta kita apnar baba’r rasta ni (Is this road your father’s property).”

Das says this retaliation irked the locals and they started questioning the boys and few even raised hands in the heat of the moment. Das, speaking to our correspondent asserts he was only calming the situation as there was a mob of about 200 people and things could go out of hands. The ward commissioner did not say anything about the young Silcharians seeking permission for a cleanliness drive, instead, questioned their purpose of visit to Das Colony.

Clearly, both sides have a completely different story to tell. Our correspondent spoke to the chairman of the Municipality board, and he acknowledged meeting a young group of people, “They came to see me and shared that they wanted to do a Swaccha Bharat drive in Silchar. They also informed that they want to start from ward number 18. That is when I suggested them to meet the ward commissioner Ashim Das. I did not speak to the commissioner about this and have no clue of what happened today,” said chairman Niharendra Narayan Tagore.

We tried to speak to the deputy commissioner but S Lakshmanan was busy and could not give us time. However, sources close to the deputy commissioner confirmed that Lakshmanan met the young group and is aware of their cleanliness drive.

Who is right and who is wrong is something that the Police should investigate and judiciary decide. For once, even if we agree with Das’ story and consider it true, at no cost civilians should take law into their own hands. Nothing justifies an act of violence against anyone and certainly not against a group of youth who volunteered in the noble cause initiated by the Prime Minister himself.

If they were beaten they deserve justice…