Sushmita Dev on police detaining Das couple, "It's to cover up their total failure to find the missing children"

Sunodhan and Somobala Das, the unfortunate parents, whose daughter and son missing since June 9, 2019, were detained by Cachar Police, yesterday. The parents sat on an indefinite hunger strike near the Khudiram Bose statute in Silchar. This is the second time they decided to call for a hunger strike. On November 6, 2019, they did it for the first time. Back then, Cachar Police officials requested them for a time period of 20 days. The parents co-operated and called off their hunger strike. They waited till December 29, far more than 20 days and on December 30, 2019, sat on hunger strike once again.

It is cold in Silchar and the Das couple stayed out in the open whole night as they said that they will only return to the shelter once their kids are found. Cachar Police forced the Satyagrahis and uprooted their hunger strike. “We got their medical checkup done in the morning and the reports indicated that they need medical attention. We tried to convince them to cooperate with us and visit a hospital but they did not agree and instead were adamant that they would spend the night out in the open, hungry. We had no option but to force them,” explained DSP A J Baruah.

However, Mahila Congress president and former Silchar MP Sushmita Dev feels otherwise. Speaking to Barak Bulletin, she said, “The police have detained them to coverup their total failure to find the missing children.” She feels that the detention of the parents is against their right to protest peacefully, “The entire country is under a dictatorship, where ordinary citizens have lost their civil liberties,” she asserted.

Dev also took a jibe at the government and concluded saying, “When a common man has to sit on a hunger strike for justice, it’s a sign of failed law and order and poor governance.”

Sourav Das is a 12-year-old student of Adharchand High School and his sister Supriya Das was only five-year-old. They are residents of Tapoban Road in Ashram Road, Silchar and here is an image of the sibling.