1983 Nellie massacre: Govt lays Mehta Commission report, distributes copies of Tewary Commission report in Assam Assembly

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday laid the Mehta Commission’s report on the election violence of 1983.

The Justice (retd) TU Mehta Commission was formed by Mukti Jujaru Sanmilan, an organisation, and the agitators of the Assam Movement after large scale violence was witnessed in and around the state assembly elections in February 1983.

During the Assam Agitation, which took place from 1979 to 1985 against infiltration into the state, over 2,100 people were killed in a single night in the Nellie massacre of 1983.

Mr. Sarma just laid the Mehta (Unofficial) Judicial Commission of Enquiry Report and no discussion took place.

Meanwhile, the Government also distributed the report of the Tewary Commission, which had probed into the 1983 Nellie massacre. The printed copies of the report were placed on the desks of the MLAs during the proceeding.

The Commission of Enquiry on Assam Disturbances 1983, headed by retired IAS officer TP Tewary, was constituted on July 14, 1983, to investigate the violence in the state that year.

The final report was submitted to the then-Congress government in May, 1984, with the next Asom Gana Parishad (AGP)-led government tabling it in the Assembly in 1987.

Incumbent Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had claimed that no copies of the report were made available to the MLAs, with only one copy submitted to the Speaker.

A recent Cabinet decision of the present BJP-led government, of which AGP is a partner, had said that hard and soft copies of the report will be circulated in the Assembly during the Winter Session.

The House will, however, not hold any discussion on it, Mr. Sarma had said.