File picture of Langpih village

Shillong, Jan. 22: The report of the Justice (retd) P.C. Phukan commission of inquiry, which is probing into the May 14, 2010, Langpih firing, is expected to be released within February 15 after the final hearing concluded in Guwahati yesterday.

Instituted in September 2010 by the Assam government, the commission held nearly 40 hearings, including eight days in Shillong where around 122 people, including officials, from both Meghalaya and Assam, were cross-examined regarding the incident.

As many as 90 witnesses were examined during the hearing by the commission. Besides the submission of NGOs from Khasi Hills, injured victims and relatives of the victims, officials and police personnel from both Assam and Meghalaya had also deposed before the commission. The memorandum submitted by the Nepali residents of Langpih was also examined by the commission.

Four Khasi villagers were killed while 12 others were injured on May 14, 2010, when Assam police personnel allegedly opened fire at Langpih, around 150km from here, in West Khasi Hills district, bordering Assam’s Kamrup district.

During a meeting between the chief ministers of both the states at Dispur in June 2010, the Meghalaya government had suggested the need to have a consensus on the issue of conducting probe by a neutral body. Later, during the visit of then Union home secretary G.K. Pillai, the Centre had left it to both the states to decide on settling the boundary dispute which surfaced following the Langpih firing.

Pillai had also suggested that any judicial probe initiated by Assam into the Langpih firing would be independent and neutral and ruled out any additional probe by any other central agency.

According to official sources, while Meghalaya maintained that Assam police personnel had fired on Khasi villagers to protect Nepali residents, the stand of Assam was that the firing was necessitated as the crowd had become aggressive and there was also serious threat to the life and property of policemen and the Nepali residents.

Fenela Lyngdoh Nonglait, advocate for the victims’ families, said the commission concluded yesterday at the circuit house in Guwahati.

“All arguments and submissions, both from Assam and Meghalaya, concluded yesterday and we expect the report to be out by February 15,” Nonglait said.

The final hearing resumed on January 18 after it was postponed from January 6 because of the inability of the commission to provide the official video-recording of the local inspection of Langpih, held on December 3 last year.

The terms of reference of the inquiry commission include ascertaining the circumstances leading to the police firing, to find out if any person(s), organisation(s) are responsible for the incident, to determine whether there were any lapses on part of any authority, and if so, to fix responsibility thereof. The commission would also suggest steps to ensure that such incidents do not recur.

Langpih, like 11 other villages on the Assam-Meghalaya border, is considered an area of difference and both the governments have been engaging in talks to resolve the border dispute for long.

Besides the judicial inquiry, both Assam and Meghalaya have also initiated talks to settle the long-pending border dispute.