SHILLONG, April 11: Although police arrested eight tribal youth last week, ending a tantalizing period of suspense over suspected communal angle to the Golf Links violence, police is still at the receiving end.
First there was allegation of ineptitude in bringing the culprits to book, and now Opposition Congress is questioning police wisdom in disclosing identities of those arrested.
Senior Congress leader and East Shillong MLA, Ampareen Lyngdoh has stressed on the need for police to abstain from indicating the backgrounds of individuals, whether tribal or non-tribal, in cases where there is a communal strain.
The police had recently issued a statement that the Special Investigation team (SIT) had arrested eight tribals in connection with the Golf Links assault case that left one youth from Wahkaji, South West Khasi Hills, dead.
“When these street fights occur and when there is a communal strain indicated, the police should abstain from indicating the backgrounds of these individuals. When you say tribal or non-tribal you are already indicating a communal tension,” said Lyngdoh.
“When you say that a group of tribals have assaulted another tribal do not forget that there are sub tribes within the tribal community and it is unhealthy indication,” she observed.
She said that in the arrest of these individuals it is expected that there will be justice given to the bereaved family of the youth who lost his life.
“It is not enough to just arrest individuals. It is important to nab the real culprits. Nabbing the culprits and arresting random people are two different things to the public,” she said.
Stating that she reads the arrests as inconclusive, Lyngdoh said, “We will wait for the case to be investigated thoroughly and we expect that there will be justice that will ensure that the perpetrators are punished as per law to ensure that there will be a deterrent to reoccurrence of such cases in the future”. (Contd on P-4)
Cong ire over naming…
(Contd from P-1) Requesting the public to not look at street fights as an attack by one community against another, she said, “It is just that street fights of this nature have many reasons and surely there has been no attempts by anyone to harm someone because of their tribal identity.”
“We expect the police to fast track their investigation and ensure that justice is delivered,” she added.