TURA: Five organizations from Garo Hills have written to Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma calling upon his government to take up strong measures to check rising cases of crimes against women and children and ensure exemplary punishment is given to the offenders.
The memorandum to the government, jointly signed by the East Zone Garo Students’ Union, Federation of Khasi Jaintia Garo People (east zone), Garoland State Movement committee, All A’chik Youth Federation and All India Garo Union, was given to the government after a rally on Monday morning in Williamnagar town to protest the April 28th rape and murder of a 7 year old child by a migrant labourer in the remote village of Megua Songmong in South Garo Hills district.
The accused in the heinous incident, Buchon Ghose, has since been arrested and in judicial custody.
On Monday, citizens of Williamnagar town alongside hundreds of school and college students took part in a protest rally called by the east zone GSU to condemn the incident. They took out a procession from Rongrenggre higher secondary school playground to the deputy commissioner’s office to express their strong resentment to the rising cases of sexual assault on women and children.
In their memorandum to the government, submitted through the deputy commissioner, the student and social organizations demanded that adequate compensation be given to the family of the murdered child while calling for the death penalty to the accused in the crime.
The student bodies also raised recent incidents of harassment and assault on women in different parts of Garo Hills and sought the arrest of the perpetrators.
The case of two women being allegedly molested by a computer instructor in Tura, the sexual harassment of a girl child by a teacher in a school in Tura, and the assault on a woman RTI activist, Nargis T Sangma, in Mahendraganj town were issues that the government seriously needed to deal with at the earliest, demanded the agitating organizations.
Calling for the legislation of an influx checking mechanism like the Inner Line Permit in the long run, as a quick response to dealing with the issue, the student and social groups have asked that migrants must register themselves with the deputy commissioner’s office, NGO offices or the respective village nokmas. They have also demanded that each and every migrant trader must obtain trading licence from the GHADC.