The Mazhabi or Dalit Sikhs of a prime locality in Shillong may take the State Government to court for taking possession of their colony despite separate orders from the Meghalaya High Court and the National Commission for Minorities to maintain the status quo.
The Harijan Panchayat Committee said they would not give up without a fight against a Government that is “bent upon taking the land gifted to us” by the Syiem, or the king-like chieftain, 200 years ago. “The Government has disregarded the court and the commission. We are discussing with our lawyers,” Gurjit Singh, the committee’s secretary, told The Hindu .
The case on the Government’s move to evict the residents of Harijan Colony, also called Punjabi Lane, for a developmental project has been in the court for four years since a communal flare-up in May-June 2018.
