DIMAPUR, JUNE 9: The issue of Inner Line Permit in Dimapur dominated a meeting that was held on Friday here at CP Conference Hall, Dimapur, with different stakeholders sharing on sensitive and collective intervention on social issues and other related concerns.
During the meeting, while an officer representing a District Administration expressed sadness over the fact that he witnesses GBs and Village Council Chairmen reaching the office for ILP, another, representing a GB association, stated that GBs and Chairmen are compelled to visit the District Administration for ILPs citing that the migrants are mostly cultivators and small shop owners and the process of getting an ILP is not easy.
Another, representing another GB association, talked about how there are many “cunning” non-Nagas who are resorting to providing fake documents apparently from their native places to get ILPs, and he could catch one when he noticed similar handwriting for two different names.
He called for a mechanism where the police here can do cross verifications of the documents being produced through their counterparts in other States.
Commissioner of Police Dimapur, Kevithuto Sophie, on the occasion, asked Nagas to be careful when displaying soft corners when it comes to issuing documents and understand that the PRC is meant for permanent settlers of the State only. He urged colony administrators to keep records of the new people entering the colonies.
In his remark, the CP touched on a number of issues concerning Dimapur and said that while Dimapur is now divided, the issues across the three districts remain the same.
According to him, the major issues across the districts are drug trafficking, drug abuse, prostitution, the presence of brothels and the sale of liquor among others.
On the NLTP Act, he said that as long as people in Nagaland continue to consume alcohol, the liquor issue cannot be clearly solved.
Noting the issue of extortion, he said that people are being extorted in the name of nationalism and even if someone who doesn’t belong to any faction, pretends to belong to one and tries to extort money, people have to believe in him and comply.
He said that colonies can help the police with these issues by informing them quickly and that the colony council can detain people trying to extort or sell drugs. He, however, cautioned that they should not try to take the law into their own hands by resorting to physical attacks, as actions like this can land the attackers in legal trouble.
He also mentioned that it is not necessary for informers to be physically present at the police station; only passing on the information will facilitate the police taking suo motu cognisance of the cases and the informers’ details will remain confidential.
He also asked the colonies and villages to ensure that the resolutions they take for their villages and colonies have legal backing and refrain from publishing everything on newspapers or social media.
On the incidents of road accidents and loss of lives, he said that for 5 consecutive days recently, there have been 5 accidents in Dimapur and in each case, people have lost their lives. According to him, in the majority of such cases, the victim’s reckless driving is to be blamed, besides the issue of not wearing helmets.
K Ela, Director of Prodigals’ Home, stated in her remark that drug abusers should be helped and not treated as criminals and their human rights should be respected too.
She noted that Dimapur lacks the presence of rehabilitation centres for minors, who are also experiencing increasing issues with addiction and that it is not good to keep minors in the same centres as adults.
She alleged that money in the present time has become the main agenda for some police personnel to deal with issues like addiction and this is a dangerous trend. She added that women face similar problems where they are harassed for money and if they cannot provide money, the demands change to something else.
She alleged that there are different kinds of treatments that are being meted out on Nagas and non-Nagas, explaining that while Nagas get preferential treatments, with their names and identities kept confidential, the same cannot be true for non-Nagas. She added that treatments also differ because of influence and financial status.
PFO, Dimapur, Anna in her speech said that people seem to harass more those who are weak and said that if a hotel is being raided for prostitution, why shouldn’t other nearby hotels, which are grand, be raided?
She added that, in the end, it is the women who become victims.
Yanbemo Ngullie, panel lawyer, DLSA, speaking on the legal aspects of prostitution, said that prostitution is legal in India and is one of the oldest professions in the world. He said that the media need to keep in mind Section 354 of the IPC, which restricts them from interviewing the sex workers, as such can amount to outraging their modesty.
The meeting was attended by representatives of DCs and GB Associations of Dimapur, Niuland, and Chumoukedima, Dimapur Urban Council Chairman Forum, CAD Foundation, BYWC Nagaland Gate, District AIDS Programme Control Unit, DLSA, Prodigals Home and DPRO among others.
(Page News Service)
