A Congress delegation that was going to Nagaland in light of the botched Army ambush that left 14 civilians dead on Wednesday, 8 December, staged a sit-in protest at Jorhat Airport in Assam after being stopped from going any further.
The delegation has been stopped under Section 144(1) CrPC as per an order by Jorhat DM, "under the apprehension of breach of peace and tranquility."
The Congress took to Twitter to call the "illegal detention" of the delegation "highly condemnable".
The delegation, comprising Jitendra S Alwar, Dr Ajoy Kumar and Gaurav Gogoi, registered their protest at Jorhat for not being allowed to visit Mon district where they had planned to meet the families of the victims. The delegation was supposed to submit a report to party chief Sonia Gandhi within seven days.
"Protesting against the illegal detention of Congress delegation at Jorhat and preventing us from travelling to Mon district in Nagaland to meet the families of the victims," Gogoi had said in a tweet.
"Congress delegation is not allowed to meet the bereaved families in Nagaland. GOI is scared of us sharing people’s grief. But nothing will stop us. #NoFear," Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said in a Facebook post.
As many as 14 civilians were killed by the Indian army in Nagaland on Saturday, 4 December, and Sunday, 5 December, in a series of incidents that have been "deeply regretted" by the armed forces and the central government.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)