Demand for Rs 10 lakh compensation, Govt jobs for kin of victims
SHILLONG: Family members of two victims – Derestmon Siangshai and Setlang Phawa – who were killed in the firing incident at Mookhep, East Jaintia Hills, on September 24 have demanded that the State Government should make the magisterial inquiry report public and pay compensation of Rs.10 lakh each to the families of the victims.
The family members also demanded that the Government should take care of the education of Setlang Phawa’s children till they attain the age of 18 and also to provide government jobs to one family member each of the two victims.
“We would like the State Government to make public the report of the magisterial inquiry headed by East Jaintia Hills Additional Deputy Commissioner S.S. Syiemlieh. The people have the right to know the findings of the inquiry,” Philip James Bamon, brother-in-law of Derestmon Siangshai, told newsmen while addressing a press conference here on Monday. He questioned the hesitance of the State Government in making the findings of the inquiry public despite the fact that the report had been submitted on October 30.
Bamon also questioned Chief Minister Mukul Sangma’s statement that the Government would constitute another inquiry to rectify the ‘flaws’ in the magisterial inquiry report.
“It looks like the Government is trying to hide something by declining to make the report public. We have apprehension that there will be manipulations on the findings of the magisterial inquiry,” Bamon said.
Expressing similar apprehension, Siangshai’s elder sister, Lyntisuk Siangshai, said that the family members will definitely demand for a fresh inquiry if they were not satisfied with the findings of the magisterial inquiry.
“Till now no one is aware of the findings of the inquiry. We will not accept the constitution of a fresh inquiry unless we are privy to the findings of the magisterial inquiry,” she said.
She also expressed surprise that the Government was yet to take action against those police personnel who had opened fire resulting in the killing of two innocent people.
“Besides taking stringent action, we would want the Government to terminate them from service,” she said.
She also demanded that the State Government should pay a compensation of Rs.10 lakh each to the next of kin of the two victims and provision of government job to one family member each of the two victims.
“Both the victims who were killed were the lone bread earners of their families. The Government has to provide Government jobs to ensure that the surviving family members do not die of starvation,” Lyntisuk said.
Speaking on behalf of Phawa’s children, she said that the Government should take care of their education till they attain the age of 18. “These children have now become orphans,” she said.
She also revealed that the authorities had rejected their application for certified copies of the autopsy report of Siangshai.
“We have been informed that we cannot receive a certified copy of the post mortem since the inquiry was still going on. But the fact is that we had sought for the certified copy after the report of the magisterial inquiry was submitted to the State Government,” she added.