Assam govt lays non-official Mehta Commission report on 1983 poll violence

Guwahati, Nov 25 (PTI) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday laid the report of the non-official Mehta Judicial Inquiry Commission on the election violence of 1983 in the Assembly.

The Justice (Retd) TU Mehta Commission was formed by Asom Rajyik Freedom Fighters' Association (Asom Rajyik Mukti Jujaru Sanmilan) (ARFFA), an organisation, after large-scale violence in and around the state assembly elections in February 1983, in the midst of Assam Agitation.

During the Assam Agitation, which took place from 1979 to 1985 against infiltration into the state, over 2,100 people were butchered, mostly Muslims, in a single night in the infamous Nellie massacre of 1983.

Sarma just laid the 'Report of the Non-Official Judicial Inquiry Commission on the Holocaust of Assam Before, During and After Election, 1983' and no discussion took place in the House.

The state cabinet on November 23 approved tabling of the unofficial report in the Assembly.

The three-member Commission, formed by ARFFA, was headed by TU Mehta, Retired Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court, and had Retired IAS Officer Ganesh Chandra Phukan and former Finance Department Secretary-cum-Cotton College teacher Raihan Shah as members.

The Commission was "formally inaugurated" on February 19, 1984, as per the foreword of the report. It submitted its findings and report on August 20, 1984.

The Mehta Commission was apparently set up to counter the official Tewary Commission. Both the reports' investigation period was fixed from January to April of 1983 and the election had taken place in February of that year.

On July 14, 1983, the Assam government had set up the commission under the leadership of T P Tewary. S Manoharan was appointed as the Secretary, and C K Verma and R C Jain were made the Officers of Special Duty of the probe body.

The 551-page report was submitted to the erstwhile Hiteswar Saikia government in May 1984, and it was tabled in Assembly in 1987 during the AGP government led by Prafulla Kumar Mahanta.

The Mehta Commission report said that although it had sought details from the Assam government for its probe purposes, the administration decided not to extend any support and had issued a circular banning all departments and officials from deposing before it.

"Assam turned into real police state and rule of a quality observed in police brutalities-every request to preserve and restore law and order was met by saying that the police forces were meant only for election purposes," the report's conclusion stated.

It also alleged that district officers taking shelter of instructions from above failed to perform their statutory duties to preserve law and order.

"...civil services in Assam did not achieve even a minimum level of standard of civil service as envisaged in the Constitution, a little inclination to some awareness of their statutory duties would have saved the lives of thousands of persons and property worth crores of rupees," it added.

Questioning who was responsible for such a situation, the Mehta Commission put the blame on incumbent central government, Election Commission, politicians who wanted to capture power by hook or crook, Assam Governor and his advisor bureaucrats at the state's secretariat.

"Those who favoured elections did so in name of democracy but started by destroying all that democracy stands for, and ended by destroying all that civilization stands for. 'Constitutional Compulsion' -- a mere ruse-real motive to capture power as done in past by Chengizkhan and Taimurs without their frankness," it added.

The report mentioned some of the findings as -- foreigners problem, ignoring the promise to revise electoral rolls and failure of talks followed by "terror and draconian measures providing grave and sudden provocation" to people.

It also said the excuse of Constitutional compulsions were a mere eyewash, failure of Election Commission to play a constructive role, power captured with repression, provocative speeches of politicians which flared up group violence, and negligence of law and order were some more points.

Some more findings of the private probe body were disregard for law and order by armed forces and police, police and civil authorities forgot their statutory duties, and people "successfully" boycotted the elections.

"That foreigners' problem in Assam is the real problem hanging for its solution since last many years. The real implication of this problem, if not solved in time, is the extinction of Assamese language, tradition, culture and way of life within a very short period. It was this problem which furnished the genesis of the trouble experienced by people during the period under investigation," the report said in its conclusion chapter. PTI TR TR RG