In a bizarre incident, three youths from Badarpur in Barak Valley of Assam were harassed on communal basis, even to the extent of suspecting them to have terror links by the staff of the prestigious Vivanta Hotel in Guwahati.
The youth were also forced the leave the hotel and seek accommodation elsewhere in the middle of the night.
The three youth, one of them, a dental hygienist working as non-commissioned officer in the Army Medical Corps (AMC) of Manipur had checked into Taj Vivanta after they missed a flight to New Delhi owing to late running of their train from Silchar.
The trio Imran Hussain Laskar, Sahab Uddin and Zahid Islam Barbhuiyan had checked into room 226 at about 2 pm on Friday last after making necessary payments, including Rs 2,000 for an extra bed.
But even after several hours they were not provided with the extra bed.
Unable to relax, the three youth reportedly went towards the swimming pool.
But they were prevented from using the pool.
Things turned murkier when they interacted with a section of the media present there to cover a programme which was attended by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
Immediately thereafter, the hotel security allegedly called up the police and forcibly locked up the three youth in a room for several hours and began interrogating them, even frisking their belongings including scanning their mobile phones.
Later, sleuths from the Intelligence Bureau were also summoned who also began thorough interrogation and scanning their social media accounts.
However, the sleuths from the IB found nothing objectionable with the three youths from the Barak Valley and left them alone thanking them for their ‘cooperation’.
However, even after that, the hotel management forced them to leave the hotel at midnight.
Meanwhile, the incident has created quite a furore in entire Barak Valley after it became viral on social media platforms.
The three youths have, meanwhile, written to the Taj Group of Hotels accusing their four-star establishment in Guwahati of racial profiling and harassment.
They are also contemplating to lodge a complaint with a consumer court and discuss with their lawyers the next course of action.
