SHILLONG, APR 27: Fifteen village dorbars under the Mawsynram constituency have decided to form a peace committee to defuse the tension that arose from the burning of the house by the mob of a businessman Tremelin Nongseij whom they suspected of practicing witchcraft.
The decision was taken at a peace meeting held at Mawrynkang village, about 50 kms from Shillong on Saturday.
The decision of the formation of the peace committee was the result of the initiative taken by these 15 dorbar shnongs who wanted to resolve tension between the family of Tremelin Nongsiej and the people of Mawrynkang village after the incident took place on Monday last.
The peace committee will be headed by Hayson Nongsiej who is the chairman of the Raseid Sawsymper.
The meeting was held in the presence of the officials from the district administration and attended by more than 2000 villagers.
Last Monday thousands of villagers attacked the residence of Nongsiej alleging that his family was a practitioner of “witchcraft”. The mob set ablaze his residence besides ten vehicles belonging to the family.
Following the incident the Nongseij family filed an FIR on the basis of which the police arrested as many as nineteen people including a woman on charges of arson.
During the peace meeting on Saturday, East Khasi hills additional deputy commission DM Wahlang informed that the arrest was made by the district administration to maintain law and order in the area and not because of the FIR filed by the affected family.
Wahlang urged the villagers not to suspect without enough evidence. He said, “Such allegations without any proof will only lead to harming the innocent people.”
Wahlang also made it clear that the district administration will keep its eyes open and will not allow such act that is not only criminal but also violating human rights of people to occur in future. He, however, stressed the need for the traditional heads and chiefs to play a vital role in educating the people that nobody is above the law and nobody should take the law in their own hands.
Meanwhile, Tremelin Nongsiej and his family has decided to withdraw their complaint following the verbal undertaking by over 2000 villagers during the meeting that the family was never involved in any witchcraft.
A grief stricken Nongsiej told the gathering that he and his family are ready to forgive and forget about whatever had happen on that fateful night. He said, “The people who have done the act are not aware of what they were doing as they had done it due to some external evil force.” He felt that the incident took place because of instigation by vested interest and ended by saying that he and his family only wanted peace and is ready to let go.
It is reported that the damaged to Nongseij property is around two crore rupees.-By Our Reporter
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