A judicial panel probing the killing of six people at a disputed spot on the 884.9 km Assam-Meghalaya border in November 2022 is scheduled to resume the examination of the witnesses on May 25.
Officials in the two States said the proceedings may continue for two more days depending on the number of witnesses produced by Assam’s Director-General of Police.
Meghalaya had set up a judicial inquiry commission led by retired judge T. Vaiphei to probe the firing incident at Mukroh — Assam calls the place Mukhrow or Moikrang — that left six people dead. Five of them were Meghalaya villagers and one an Assam Forest guard.
Explained | The Assam-Meghalaya border firing
Meghalaya claims Mukroh is in its West Jaintia Hills district while Assam claims it is in West Karbi Anglong district.
“The secretary to the commission had spoken with the counsels representing the Assam and Meghalaya governments, as well as the Mukroh villagers to fix May 16 for the examination of witnesses. The date was deferred due to their unavailability,” an official said.
The Justice (retd) Vaiphei Commission had last examined the witnesses of the firing incident on April 28.
A bid by the Assam police and forest personnel to catch alleged timber smugglers from Meghalaya led to the killing of six people at Mukroh on November 22.
The place is in one of the 12 disputed sectors on the Assam-Meghalaya boundary. The dispute dates back to the carving out of Meghalaya from Assam as a separate State in 1972.
The two States settled their dispute in six of these 12 sectors through a tripartite agreement involving the Centre on March 29, 2022. The Mukroh incident has delayed the discussions for the remaining six sectors.
