Lawyer hits out at police

Jorhat, June 6: A leading lawyer of Upper Assam, Rintu Goswami, today criticised Jorhat police and the district administration for not taking legal action against government officials and the NGO which was reportedly involved in the fiasco related to pre-recruitment training for jobs in army and paramilitary forces here on Sunday.

Violence broke out at the stadium on Sunday morning after youths went on a rampage, mistaking a training programme to be a recruitment drive.

Goswami, a legal and RTI activist, said the police and the administration should have taken legal action against the officials of the directorate of employment and craftsmen training under the Assam government. They had advertised in the newspapers about holding the training rally but had not made necessary arrangements to organise the same.

“Most importantly the directorate had not take permission (as stated by the DC and SP to the media) from the district administration, which is compulsory for organising a public event of such a nature,” Goswami said.

With Section 144 of the CrPC in force in the district, permission has to be obtained for organising any kind of public gathering and violation of it is an offence under the IPC, he said.

The lawyer said the directorate had entrusted the job of conducting the training to the NGO, but the advertisement had no mention of the same.

The magisterial inquiry into the incident, conducted by ADC Dwijen Singh, has blamed both the directorate and the NGO for lack of “co-ordination and mismanagement” in arranging the event.

Rejecting the allegations, Jorhat SP Amanjeet Kaur said investigations were on and legal action would be taken accordingly.

“We will arrest people if the probe necessitates it,” Kaur said, adding that police were looking whether there was criminal intention in the alleged lapses and irregularities conducted by the organisers of the rally.