Meghalaya govt decides to drop criminal cases leaders

The Meghalaya government today decided to drop all criminal cases filed against the leaders of 13 pro-Inner Line Permit organizations, officials said.
The decision came hours after hundreds of pro-ILP organizations converged here in a sit-in demonstration demanding immediate withdrawal of cases against their leaders.
"The government has agreed to withdraw all criminal cases which are petty in nature, filed against leaders of the various groups," a top government official told PTI.
He said this was informed through an official communication issued by the political department to the leaders of all the pro-ILP organizations here.
The cases identified other than petty will however be left to the decision of the Special Court to decide, the official said.

Khasi Student Union general secretary Auguster Jyrwa confirmed receiving the official communication from the state government.

"The government has agreed to drop all cases filed against NGOS during the ILP agitation except for those it referred to as heinous in nature," he said.
There are over 90 cases registered against the leaders of the pro-ILP organizations during the four-month long agitations in the second half of 2013.
Meanwhile the law department has also written to the High Court seeking appointment of a new judge of the special court after a major reshuffle was affected in the lower judiciary recently.