SHILLONG, Aug 13: The killing of Cheristerfield Thangkhiew has evoked a strong reaction from pressure groups and traditional heads.
While the Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) asked Rymbui to resign, the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) said shooting and killing people is not the way.
HYC president, Robertjune Kharjahrin said the council is concerned about the state government’s policy of handling militancy.
“On one hand, the government is inviting them for peace talks and on the other hand, they are shooting people who have already surrendered,” he said.
Asking the government to spell out clearly if it wants peace or war, the HYC president demanded an independent inquiry into the incident. At the same time, he demanded the resignation of Rymbui, Superintendents of Police of the two districts and all those officers and personnel, who were involved in the operation, to facilitate a free and fair inquiry. “We condemn the way the police handled the situation. Looking at the statements of the police as well as the family members of Cheristerfield Thangkhiew, we understand that he was sick,” Kharjahrin said.
Questioning the timing of the raid, he said the government and the police could have followed the process by obtaining a warrant and arresting him at day time.
“As per claims, a sick person tried to attack the armed personnel and they shot him dead to protect themselves. This claim is not acceptable to us,” Kharjahrin said, adding the “incident more or less looks like a fake encounter.”
The HYC appealed to the High Court of Meghalaya and the Meghalaya Human Rights Commission to take suo motu cognizance of the incident.
KSU president, Lambokstar Marngar said, “If the police found anything wrong, they could have investigated it accordingly. But to kill a person is totally unacceptable and we condemn it.”
Meanwhile, the traditional bodies of the state have sought transparency from the state government on the police raid that led to the death of Cheristerfield Thangkhiew and while the Federation of Khasi States has demanded a judicial inquiry, the Synjuk Ki Nongsynshar Shnong Ka Bri U Hynniewtrep (SNSBH) will discuss the incident on Saturday.
“We condemn such blatant unwarranted misuse of police force given the fact that this individual had surrendered on October 18, 2018 and was felicitated by Meghalaya Police personnel themselves. What was the necessity to raid his house at such odd hours leading to his killing? Meghalaya Police could have easily summoned him or conducted a raid during the day given the fact that he was already integrating himself into the society,” Adviser & Spokesperson of Federation of Khasi States, John F Kharshiing said in a letter addressed to the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister.
“The entire police operation is questionable as it was the police themselves who had brought him before the Dy CM in a publicised program on October 18, 2018. This would mean that police would be having his complete cooperation and hence arises the unanswered question of why would there even be a need to eliminate him unless there were ulterior motives behind the police operation,” Kharshiing added.
Meanwhile, SNSBH, general secretary, RL Blah said, “Personally I feel that there should be a judicial inquiry but as an organization we will discuss the matter tomorrow in a virtual meet to take a decision”.
“It is very unfortunate. Come what may the police should have behaved in a rational way. We do not know what is the true picture,” he observed.
The Meghalaya Peoples’ Human Rights Council (MPHRC) has taken strong note of raid and encounter conducted by a joint police team and termed the incident as unjustified.
“Calling for a free, fair and impartial investigation into the unfortunate incident, the job of the police is to apprehend any suspected criminals and bring them to book. If the police contravene its boundaries and take the law in its own hands, the security of the citizens is seriously endangered. Merely because a person is perceived to be a suspect in the recent blast in the State, the Police can have no justification to deprive him of his life otherwise than that in accordance with the procedure established by law” said MPHRC.
“While extra-judicial or “encounter” killings have been a contested and contentious police procedure for decades we see that the steps taken by the joint police team in this case is unjustified and a deliberate attempt to infringe and crush the Supreme Court and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Guidelines” said MPHRC.
“We strongly call for a legal standard procedure for a thorough, effective and independent investigation since the right to life and equality before law are the basic human rights recognized and granted by the Constitution of India” concluded MPHRC.
Another organisation, New Dawn Meghalaya, also condemned the acts of violence saying these are detrimental to the peace and well-being of citizens of the state. “We condemn the previous IED blasts in Police Reserve, East Jaintia Hills and Laitumkhrah as devious, cowardly and anti-people acts that cannot be redeemed or justified by any narratives created by right-wing extremists,” it said.
“We are fully invested in the cause of uplift of the tribal people, but do not believe it should come at the cost of subjugating minority non-tribals. Any concerns about an increase in population and threat to the indigenous community should be borne out by unbiased surveys, economic studies and accurate data, rather than hearsay that are propagated by those with vested interests,” it added.
“However, we are deeply concerned about the actions taken by the Meghalaya Police against a surrendered HNLC militant. The grounds on which the police sanctioned killing was carried out are flimsy at best. We believe that apprehension and rehabilitation of said militant would have been the preferred outcome, rather than resorting to violence that has led to the loss of life. In the current state of unrest in Meghalaya, such an action further emboldens and radicalizes the unruly elements among our citizenry,” the organisation said.
“At this juncture we would like to advise our people not to be swayed by propaganda and fall into the circles of violence that have been haunting us for the past 50 years of Statehood. The ramifications of further aggression between militants and the armed forces will be borne by the working class, so we must be responsible and take affirmative action to prevent the situation from escalating further,” it concluded.
