SHILLONG: The Gauhati High Court Division Bench, Shillong on Wednesday directed the State Government to award adequate compensation to the families of the four innocent villagers who were killed in “unprovoked firing” by the police in West Garo Hills on February 2, 2004.
While giving their final judgement on the writ petition filed by the families of the victim, Chief Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Anima Hazarika have considered it is appropriate to award Rs 3 lakh each to the family members of the four victims.
“They have come to this conclusion based on evidence recorded by the Enquiry Officer that the police personnel indulged and resorted to unprovoked firing which led to the death of four innocent villagers.
“Therefore, there is no option left but to award compensation to the petitioners suitably,” Chief Justice Lokur and Justice Hazarika stated in the judgement.
Meanwhile, the Court also directed the government to pay another Rs 5,000 to be paid by state respondents.
The State Government has already paid Rs 1 lakh to each of the victim families, the court has ordered the balance amount of Rs 2 lakh along with Rs 5,000 to be deposited before the Registry of Shillong Bench of Gauhati High Court within three months.
Security forces had killed the four villagers suspecting them as militants during the GHADC polls in 2004.
The victims, supporters of a Congress candidate, Billistone Sangma, came to his house at Bikkonggre village along in a group of 25 to 30 people to hear the results of election on February 2, the day for counting of votes at Tura.
But when the supporters arrived at his residence they could not meet him since he had already left for Tura in the morning hours.
They also wanted to go to Tura, but as there were no more buses, they stayed back in the house.
In the evening, they put up a fire in the courtyard to keep themselves warm.
After some time, the Officer-in-Charge of Phulbari Police Station, TJ Synrem along with some police and CRPF personnel suddenly appeared and without saying anything, straightway started firing in a reckless and indiscriminate manner at the people at the courtyard, killing four of them — Resen Sangma, Majendro Sangma, Jason Sangma and Saren Sangma — on the spot.
“The allegations brought in these writ petitions depict a tragic story of killing innocent villagers by the police personnel in the name of so-called counter-insurgency operations,” the court observed.
The supporters who gathered at the courtyard were simple villagers without any arms, the court said.
However, the respondents claimed that the four persons were “militants” and were hiding at night with sophisticated weapons in the residential compound of the Congress candidate.
After the incident, the government had constituted a magisterial inquiry headed by RP Marak, additional deputy commissioner in-charge Dadenggiri subdivision.