Assam: Assault on teenage girl sparks protest against ‘outsiders’, Marwari groups made to apologise

The alleged assault of a 17-year-old girl in Assam’s Sivasagar town last week has sparked widespread protests against “outsiders” in the state, reported The Indian Express on Wednesday.

The teenager, an arm wrestler, was allegedly assaulted on August 13. Two persons from the Marwari community were arrested in connection with the matter, according to the Deccan Herald.

Protests against the alleged incident led to a meeting on Tuesday in which representatives of Marwari groups were made to kneel in apology in the presence of Cabinet minister Ranoj Pegu, who is also the guardian minister for Sivasagar district.

Representatives of Assamese nativist groups were also present at the meeting.

On Monday, thirty Assamese nativist organisations protested against the alleged incident in Sivasagar and forced businesses owned by “non-Assamese” residents to shut down.

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Bharatiya Janata Party leader Gauravv Somani, who is a member of the Marwari community in Guwahati, had filed a complaint at the Dispur police station on Sunday in connection with the alleged incident.

Somani’s complaint claimed that Sringkhal Chaliha, a leader of the Assamese nativist organisation Lachit Sena, was using the alleged incident to promote enmity on the grounds of language and race.

On Monday, the banned insurgent group United Liberation Front of Assam-Independent demanded that Somani withdraw his complaint, failing which it warned of consequences for “outsiders”, according to The Indian Express.

Attended a significant meeting concerning the unfortunate incident at Babupatti, Sivasagar, alongside representatives from 30 organizations, as per the directive of our honourable Chief Minister.

I expressed deep grief over the incident and empathized with the sentiments of the… pic.twitter.com/y5UGZ38Qzc

— Ranoj Pegu (@ranojpeguassam) August 20, 2024

Assamese groups have demanded that a law be passed to ban the sale of land to “non-Assamese” persons in Sivasagar district. They have also demanded that all shops owned by “non-Assamese” individuals display their names in large letters in the Assamese script, and that such businesses must ensure that at least 90% of their employees are “indigenous” persons.

The Indian Express quoted Vinod Aggarwal, one of those who “apologised” at Tuesday’s meeting, as saying that all the conditions had been accepted by members of the Marwari community.

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