SHILLONG – A dispute over additional guests at a Shillong homestay produced an FIR, six arrests across state lines and a High Court proceeding. The criminal case is now over. The consequences are not.
On Monday Chief Justice Revati Mohite Dere quashed the FIR against six students from Uttar Pradesh after they paid compensation, issued an unconditional apology, and accepted the court’s additional directions. The homestay proprietor and manager told the court they had no objection.
The FIR was registered at Laitumkhrah Police Station on 11 July. The complaint alleged damage to the property and threats after additional guests were refused a room beyond its permitted capacity. Two days later the six students were arrested in West Bengal. They were later released on bail and moved the High Court.
On 17 August, after intervention by elders and well-wishers, the parties settled. The students paid ₹2.06 lakh as full and final compensation and submitted a written apology.
That might have been the end of the matter. It was not. The court imposed further conditions on two of the petitioners. Each must pay another ₹25,000 to the proprietor within a week and complete six days of community service. The service began on 8 September. Three days are to be spent at the Sikh Centre Sri Guru Singh Sabha in Lachumiere under the supervision of Dr Kamaljeet Singh. The remaining three days are with Jiva Cares’ Project Operation Clean-Up, including work on the Umkhrah river and the maintenance of public bins and flower beds across the city.
A compliance report is to be filed through the public prosecutor. The matter is listed again on 15 September.
The six were not equally placed. Three were minors –aged 15, 17 and 17. One had only recently turned 18. The other two were in their twenties and preparing for competitive examinations. The court exempted the younger four from community service.
Justice Dere held that, given the settlement and the future of the students, there was no impediment to quashing the FIR. The order is careful. It ends the prosecution. It does not pretend the episode was trivial.
A dispute over how many people could sleep in a room became a police case, an interstate arrest, and a High Court proceeding. The file is now closed. Two of the students will spend part of the coming days cleaning parts of Shillong. That is a more useful outcome than most room-capacity arguments produce.
