Violence marked the first day of the 72 hours Lekang Chakka bandh call rendered jointly by various PRC demanding non-APST organizations at Mahadevpur-Namsai Tinali under Mahadevpur police station in Namsai district of Arunachal Pradesh on Sunday.
Several Parsuram Kund devotees’ sustained injuries besides damaging the window panes of the bus carrying passengers at Bordumsa on Sunday afternoon.
According to police sources, around 35 Parsuram Kund bound devotees of Margherita area in Tinsukia district were heading towards their sacred destination in a bus bearing registration number AS-06-1097 when they were suddenly attacked by a group of unidentified masked miscreants emerging out of bushes along the Mahadevpur Raod pelting stones upon the vehicles.
Talking to the media-persons, some of the pilgrims on their return lamented the role of the security forces deployed in the area of indifferent attitude while the perverted act was being committed in broad daylight under the nose of the police and CRPF personnel.
The devotees meanwhile somehow escaping the site reported to the nearby Bordumsa police station had to later return disappointed.
The cause of the incident could, however, be understood at the backdrop of the 72 hours Lekang bandh which commenced from 5 am on Sunday till Tuesday.
The bandh call has been called by various non-APST organizations including United People Movement of Lekang, All Lekang Area Youth Association, Deori Tribal Area Association demanding immediate fulfillment of the assurance of the Arunachal Government of conferring PRC to the non-APST people residing in Arunachal including those in Lekang Circle of Namsai district.
Meanwhile, the Namsai district administration vide order No Nms/ Judi-135/2017dated January 11, 2019 declaring the bandh call ‘illegal under law’ clamped Section 144 of CrPC in the area further cautioning that in case any damage or destruction to public or private properties would be realized and recovered from the agitators.
It is pertinent to add here that Parsuram Kund nested in the lower reaches of the Lohit River is a sacred Hindu pilgrimage centre in Arunachal Pradesh situated on the Brahmaputra plateau.
The Kund has been recognized as a pilgrim spot, visited by a large number of devotees from across the globe wherein on every Makar Sankranti (Indian Harvest festival), the devotees come to take a holy dip in the sacred river.