During the second day of the Buddha Mahotsava celebration on Saturday, the 2nd Arunachal Scouts (AS) personnel stationed in West Kameng headquarters Bomdila went on rampage and vandalized the police station and the PWD office in Bomdila.
The people of Arunachal, who have immense respect for Indian Army, now request the authorities concerned to initiate inquiry into this grave matter and rebuild public confidence.
A report published on Sunday by The Arunachal Times stated the Superintendent of Police Raja Banthia has informed that hundreds of personnel of the 2nd AS ransacked the police station and the PWD office at Bomdila on Saturday morning.
The report quoted Banthia as saying, “They also snatched arms and ammunition, and the mobile phone of the officer-in-charge (OC) while also threatening him of dire consequences.”
It has been reported that on Friday, the police had received information that two intoxicated Arunachal Scouts personnel misbehaved with the visitors at the festival’s celebration ground.
A police team led by the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Bomdila Police Station went to the spot and intervened, and brought the two personnel to the police station, where the duo allegedly manhandled the OC and a policewoman.
But the officials of the Arunachal Scouts on being informed, the commanding officer arrived at the police station and took the two personnel away with him.
But the case did not stop there. The next morning, hundreds of 2nd AS personnel gathered the police station and vandalized about five police vehicles, pelted stones at the police station, broke doors and window panes, snatched weapons stored in the station, and manhandled police personnel.
The Arunachal Scouts personnel also vandalised the nearby PWD office.
When Deputy Commissioner Sonal Swaroop and the SP arrived at the spot, a verbal spat ensued between the officers and the paramilitary personnel.
In the aftermath of the furore and vandalism, all the community-based organisations of West Kameng held an emergency meeting and unanimously condemned the behaviour of the 2nd AS.
The local organisations said the incident has given rise to an utter chaotic law and order problem, when the district was celebrating Buddha Mahotsava.
The organisations also condemned the 2nd AS personnel for unnecessarily heckling the DC and the SP, and the personnel’s utter disregard for the district administration and police.
Expressing solidarity with the district administration and police, the organisations said they would hold a rally on November 5 to express their anguish and condemn the act of the 2nd AS.
The organisations also said they would submit a memorandum to the authorities concerned for further action.
The All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) also strongly condemned the attack and demanded that the State government and the Union Home Affairs Ministry immediately “institute an inquiry committee and award stringent punishment to perpetrators of such an unbecoming act.”