Namthang haat to resume after one week lost to hawker protest against stabbing

PURAN TAMANG
NAMCHI, 03 Jan: The All Sikkim Hawkers’ Association has called off its indefinite strike called at Namthang against the stabbing of one of the hawkers by a Range Officer (RO) on 22 December. The decision to lift the protest was taken today following a meeting held between the Association’s Namchi-unit and the Panchayats, officials of the Namthang Police Out-Post, Bazaar Contractor and the local gentry.
The incident triggering the ongoing protest transpired on 22 December when a heated argument between a retired Police Officer of Namthang and a hawker, Bikash Mukhia of Namchi during the weekly haat at Namthang [held every Thursday] ended with the son of the retired Police Officer, Pawan Subba, a Range Officer himself, stabbed the hawker with a knife.
Mr. Mukhia suffered grievous injuries and after preliminary treatment at Namchi, was taken to Siliguri where he is remains under medical supervision at one of the private nursing homes there.
In-Charge of All Sikkim Hawkers’ Association, Namchi Unit, Khusen Chandra Rai, while speaking to this correspondent today, informed that soon after the incident, the accused RO was taking into custody by the Police and the weapon seized.
While hawkers were assured by the Police that strong action would be taken against the accused, the hawkers were agitated when the accused was released on bail two days later. Suspecting the police of going lax, the hawkers protested and decided not to participate in the weekly haat at Namthang until they were assured complete security and convinced that the case had not been compromised.
One haat [of 29 Dec 2011] was lost to this protest, and at the meeting today, the Police assured to provide security to the hawkers, and following the request of the locals to resume the haat, the Association decided to lift their boycott and resume the weekly haat at Namthang, the ASHA Namchi-unit in-charge informs. Mr Rai also informed that the victim is recovering from his injuries at present.
Meanwhile, Police sources inform that the accused was arrested and booked under a non-bailable section and was eventually released after he secured bail from the concerned court. This was explained to the hawker representatives today.
It may be mentioned here that, Thursday is the haat day for Namthang where hawkers from Namchi, Singtam and Rangpo come to sell their goods to the people of the area.