16 GLP women held for ransack

A GLP cadre being brought to the court in Siliguri. Picture- Kundan Yolmo

BIRESWAR BANERJEE AND RAJEEV RAVIDAS, TT, Aug. 6: Sixteen women members of Gorkhaland Personnel were arrested for allegedly ransacking a police out-post at Teesta in Kalimpong subdivision yesterday morning.

Police said they picked up the 16 from Naxalbari this morning while they were purportedly planning to cross over to Nepal. All the arrested were remanded in jail custody for 14 days by a court in Siliguri. One of the charges slapped against them — Section 353 of the IPC (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) — is non-bailable.

In all, 111 Morcha activists and GLP cadres have been arrested, Darjeeling police superintendent Kunal Aggarwal said today.

Assistant public prosecutor, Sudip Roy Basunia said the female cadres of the GLP were part of a 350-strong mob that had vandalised the Teesta police out-post around 9.45am yesterday.

“The attackers snapped the telephone connection, ransacked the office furniture and fled. Since then, police had been in search of them,” said Basunia.

The lawyer said the police had come to know that the GLP members had assembled near Jabra More in Naxalbari (90km from Teesta) with an intention to enter Nepal to evade the arrest. “The police rushed to the spot and arrested them,” he added.

The Teesta out-post is under the Kalimpong police station and is 50km from Siliguri. Naxalbari is around 30km from Siliguri and is on the border with Nepal.

All the 16 women, aged between 20 and 26, were produced in the additional chief judicial magistrate’s court in Siliguri this afternoon.

They were charged under Sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of IPC.

Section 3 (mischief causing damage to public property) of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act 1984, has also been slapped on the women.

“Judge Santosh Pathak heard the case and ordered 14 days’ jail custody for all the 16. As the situation in the hills is not peaceful and there is an apprehension of a breach in law and order there, the accused will be sent to Siliguri Correctional Home,” said Basunia.

The GLP is a voluntary force raised by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, ostensibly for crowd management during the rallies organised by the outfit.

Thirteen members of the GLP had been arrested on Sunday night in connection with attacks on government properties across the hills on August 1.

Several Morcha leaders from the Terai, including Shankar Adhikari, the convenor of the outfit’s Terai committee, reached the court when the 16 women were brought there. A large number of police personnel were present on the court premises to maintain law and order.

As the cadres were being taken to the court lock-up, four-five supporters of the Rashtriya Shiv Sena, an organisation opposed to the Morcha, shouted anti-Gorkhaland slogans. The police intervened and moved them from the spot.

Sources said the arrested GLP cadres were both from the hills and the plains. Nine of them are from Kalimpong subdivision, while one each is from Darjeeling and Kurseong subdivisions. Three belong to the Dooars and two are from Siliguri.

GLP chief Ramesh Allay disputed the claim that the women had been arrested from Naxalbari. “All these girls were picked up from a construction site at Gorubathan in Kalimpong last night. They were posted there to protect materials collected for building a college by the GTA. The police have framed false charges against them to disintegrate the GLP,” said Allay, who is also the deputy chief of the GTA Sabha.

“Are they (state government) trying to push us into jungles?” he asked.