New Delhi: Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita was imposed today after hree people were injured as protesters demanding evictions in Assam’s West Karbi Anglong district set a Bharatiya Janata Party leader’s house on fire on December 22.The Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council governs the tribal-majority hill district of West Karbi Anglong. The council’s chief executive member Tuliram Ronghang is the BJP leader whose ancestral home in Dongkamukam was set ablaze, the Indian Express has reported.The background of this protest is a two-week-long hunger strike by nine people at Phelangpi in West Karbi Anglong.The Assam Tribune has reported further that the government will convene a tripartite meeting within December involving the state government, the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) and representatives of protesting locals to address the unrest.Assam minister Ranoj Pegu, meanwhile, visited the affected areas with bureaucrat Ajay Tiwari, who is additional chief secretary of the Assam government and said protesters had suspended their hunger strike following his intervention, according to the Assam Tribune report. Assam Director General of Police Harmeet Singh was also present.Reports note that those engaged in the strike are demanding evictions in PGR (Professional Grazing Reserve) and VGR (Village Grazing Reserve) lands in the council’s area – a long-standing demand by Karbi tribal bodies.On December 22, police led those striking away from the protest site, citing medical reasons. This led to locals getting agitated, leading further to the violence.Authorities, including the law and order inspector general of police Akhilesh Singh said the striking protesters had been taken to the Gauhati Medical College to be medically treated but that the later protesters assumed they had been arrested.Ronghang, speaking to the media, also said as much.While Ronghang was not at his house when it was set on fire, crowds also pelted stones near the police station at nearby Kheroni and attacked Bihari and Nepali residents there, IGP Singh told the Indian Express.“Additional forces have rushed in. We have also called CRPF and commandos and are dominating the area,” said Singh.Ronghang was the focus of the ire because in 2024, following similar protests, he had promised evictions, noting that 103 families were encroaching on grazing lands in the Phuloni circle. The protests then had been sparked by a Bihari Nonia community outfit submitting a memorandum to president Droupadi Murmu demanding, among other things, legalisation of settlers on these lands.These evictions have not materialised and Ronghang has cited the fact that those who had been given eviction notices had moved the Gauhati high court.