Mookhep firing incident
SHILLONG: The D.P. Wahlang Commission report, the second probe into the Mookhep firing incident, has posed more questions than answers since the mystery over whose bullets felled the two victims on September 24, 2014, remains unanswered.
Besides two dead, the firing had left several injured.
Sources said that the reason for rejecting the first probe report into the incident by Additional Deputy Commissioner S.S. Syiemlieh was that it had raised more questions than answers, but the second report too is vague on how the two persons were killed after the firing by the police.
One of the findings of the report of senior official D.P. Wahlang accepted by the State government only said that police fired ‘in the air’ resulting in the death of two persons.
According to the findings, the magistrate present, after assessing the situation, ordered for ‘firing in the air’ to disperse the unruly crowd.
The police fired in the air at first (as per statement of witness Iaraplang Rymbai) and fled the scene towards Lad Rymbai side, the report said.
“The incident happened between 5.45 and 6 PM on the fateful day and after the firing by the police, chaos ensued and it was found that two people had lost their lives and eight of them were seriously injured,” said the findings.
An official with the Political department on Monday said the department has referred the Mookhep firing report to the police headquarters for its response as the report had mentioned that the headquarters did not send police forces in time after a request was made by the police from East Jaintia Hills to control the crowd at Mookhep.
Though the probe report by Wahlang did not pin point anyone as responsible for the firing incident, various lapses leading to the incident were pointed out in the report.
An official source said the report will also be referred to the East Jaintia Hills deputy commissioner for response since it was the magistrate from the district who had given the order to fire to disperse the crowd.
After the findings were disclosed in the just concluded Budget session, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma had assured that action would be taken against those involved, but the Wahlang report tabled in the House did not fix responsibility on anyone for the firing incident.
CBI probe sought
Unhappy with the Wahlang inquiry report which did not name any individuals as responsible for the death of two villagers at Mookhep, Jaintia Hills based pressure group Jaintia National Council (JNC) has sought a CBI probe into the matter.
The pressure group has also decided to submit a memorandum in this regard to Chief Minister Mukul Sangma as there is lack of clarity on the manner in which the two villagers were killed after police fired in the air.