Guwahati, Jun 2 : Three policemen had a brush with death in Jorhat today, thanks to lack of co-ordination among security forces involved in counter-insurgency operations in Assam.
But for timely intervention of a handful of policemen this afternoon, all three of them would have fallen prey to a barrage of bullets from soldiers.The incident took place at Radholaphukuri village near Selenhat tea estate under the Teok police station area where they were deputed.
The three armed policemen in civvies have been protecting the house of a small-time businessman who was served an extortion notice by suspected Ulfa militants, for the past couple of days.
They were about to be victims of a mistaken identity because of an army informer in the village who mistook them for militants.
On being tipped off by him about the presence of “militants”, troops from the army base in the adjoining Sivasagar district reached the village around 4.30pm.
They too mistook the three policemen for militants holed up in the house and ordered them to come out.
The three were caught completely unawares and fearing for their lives preferred to say inside. One of them, however, tried to come out using a woman of the house as a shield, but rushed back inside when the soldiers opened fire from all sides.
However, all three were left unharmed thanks to a police party from Teok police station that rushed to the village on getting information about the army firing.
“We immediately took up the matter with the army and the matter ended there. It was unfortunate,” the Jorhat superintendent of police, Deepak Choudhury, said.
“According to norms and practice under the Unified Command, the army should inform the nearest police station before conducting an operation in a particular area. More such incidents could take place if the army does not work in cooperation with police,” a senior police officer here said.
Telegraph India
But for timely intervention of a handful of policemen this afternoon, all three of them would have fallen prey to a barrage of bullets from soldiers.The incident took place at Radholaphukuri village near Selenhat tea estate under the Teok police station area where they were deputed.
The three armed policemen in civvies have been protecting the house of a small-time businessman who was served an extortion notice by suspected Ulfa militants, for the past couple of days.
They were about to be victims of a mistaken identity because of an army informer in the village who mistook them for militants.
On being tipped off by him about the presence of “militants”, troops from the army base in the adjoining Sivasagar district reached the village around 4.30pm.
They too mistook the three policemen for militants holed up in the house and ordered them to come out.
The three were caught completely unawares and fearing for their lives preferred to say inside. One of them, however, tried to come out using a woman of the house as a shield, but rushed back inside when the soldiers opened fire from all sides.
However, all three were left unharmed thanks to a police party from Teok police station that rushed to the village on getting information about the army firing.
“We immediately took up the matter with the army and the matter ended there. It was unfortunate,” the Jorhat superintendent of police, Deepak Choudhury, said.
“According to norms and practice under the Unified Command, the army should inform the nearest police station before conducting an operation in a particular area. More such incidents could take place if the army does not work in cooperation with police,” a senior police officer here said.
Telegraph India
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