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Kohima, May 28 (MExN): The Naga Club today denied ‘vandalisation of any public properties’ or ‘public trespass’ but maintained it “entrusted” some youth on May 27 to “demolish” some structure as “bonafide owner of the land and building.”
The Naga Club made the assertion amid the widespread outcries and condemnations over the alleged vandalisation the Naga Students' Federation (NSF) office located at Naga Club Building, Kohima in the wee hours of wee hour of May 27.
In a representation to the Officer-In-Charge, North Police Station, Kohima in response to a First Information Report (FIR) filed by the NSF alleging that its ‘office premise and building has been damaged on the early hours of May 27 by unknown miscreant,’ the Naga Club maintained that the FIR was “malicious, baseless, misconceived and misleading.”
As per the Naga Club, it had served eviction notice to the occupants of the Naga Club Building beforehand and some had already vacated the building.
As such, those empty houses and rooms were demolished about three weeks ago and as the place is in the middle of the town and requires heavy machinery/vehicle dispose the debris, it was decided the same shall be removed in the early hours of May 27 to “avoid public inconvenience,” it pointed out.
The vacation notice was also served to the remaining shops and establishments, besides informing them the same in person, but they did not vacate the building, it claimed.
Some of them requested for extension to vacate the building which the Naga Club agreed but it was not vacated, it said.
Accordingly, along with disposal of the debris of the already demolished building, the Naga Club entrusted the youths to demolish the structure of those “shops and establishments who did not vacate the building despite eviction notice being served upon them.”
This was done to ensure that debris is removed on the same day without creating public inconvenience, it claimed.
In this connection, the representation to the OC, North PS Kohima by the Naga Club President Kuolachalie Seyie and General Secretary K Gwanilo Himb contended that the “question of vandalising public property or criminal trespass by unknown miscreant as alleged by the NSF does not arise.”
“It is stated that the undersigned are not miscreants, but Bonafide owner of the land and building,” it added.
Rather, it alleged that the NSF was in “unlawful and forced occupation of the Naga Club Building” as eviction notice has been issued.
To this end, it termed the NSF’s May 27 FIR as ‘malicious and baseless.”
“The present issue between the NSF and Naga Club is a civil issue competent to be tried and decided by a Civil Court having jurisdiction,” it stated, pointing out that time and again the “practice of giving a criminal cloak to cases of civil nature” has been deprecated by the Court of law.
The dispute is regarding immoveable property as such filing of FIR for offences under IPC is “misconceived as the said statute is ill-equipped for deciding such cases,” it added, requesting the OC not to take cognisance of the case to “allow the matter to be resolved in an appropriate court of law or before an appropriate forum. “
