Shillong, August 20 : East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner Abhilash Baranwal on Thursday said the Khasi Students’ Union’s claim that miscreants or opportunists had hijacked its bike rally to defame the organisation was not consistent with the evidence currently available with the administration.
Responding to the KSU’s defence following Wednesday’s violence, Baranwal said any such argument had to be examined against the available evidence. “In this case, at least in the rally itself there were several individuals who were armed with sticks, rods, number plates were covered, they had masks on their faces,” he said.
The Deputy Commissioner said the pattern of violence also appeared to go beyond a few isolated incidents. “Simultaneously, it was not just a couple of incidents which happened along the route, there was a series of incidents. If you examine these incidents, I don’t think the argument is very consistent with the evidence,” Baranwal said.
He, however, stressed that the matter remains under investigation and that any conclusion on whether the violence was pre-planned, instigated or carried out by outsiders would have to emerge from the investigation and subsequent judicial process. “It is a matter of investigation and ultimately an FIR has been filed. Whether it was pre-planned or conspired, whether it was instigated or whether some unruly or anti-social elements tried to hijack their rally is something which will come out in investigation and which is for the judiciary to decide,” he said.
Baranwal said the evidence currently available includes videos and other material circulating on social media and being shown by media organisations.
He added that it would ultimately have to be determined whether the violence involved members of the organisation, was pre-planned, or was carried out by unruly elements who took advantage of the bike rally.
