SHILLONG, May 27: A copy of the report of inquiry into the killing of former HNLC general secretary Cheristerfield Thangkhiew should be provided to his family, the Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) told Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Friday.
The report is reportedly under the scrutiny of the Political department at present.
In a letter to the CM, HYC president Robertjune Kharjahrin was of the view that the matter should no longer be delayed any further, emphasising that justice delayed is justice denied.
“Hence, we demand that the report should be furnished to the family members of the deceased, all the procedures should be completed at the earliest and the same inquiry report should be placed in the public domain,” the HYC president said.
According to Kharjahrin, the one-man inquiry commission led by retired Justice T Vaiphei has named the culprit(s) involved in the ‘murder’ of Thangkhiew and has also fixed responsibility on all persons involved in ‘committing the crime’.
“As such they should immediately be arrested and/or prosecuted under the relevant provisions of the law of the land. And in case they are public servants (police personnel), they should immediately be suspended. Failure to act on our legitimate demand, we will have but no option than to resort to protest against the government,” Kharjahrin said.
Earlier, Vaiphei had declined to reveal the findings of the inquiry while arguing that the report was “confidential”.
After conducting 20 hearings, it took six months to finalise the report.
“I questioned five witnesses, including the medical officer who performed the post mortem and four police officers. I examined five witnesses from the victim’s family, two commission witnesses who are the Investigation Officer (IO) – one from the Khliehriat IED explosion case and the other from the Mawlai case where the incident occurred on August 13, 2021,” Justice Vaiphei had said.
“As far as I’m concerned, I’ve given it all to complete it, and to the best of my abilities, no stone was left unturned in producing the finest possible report. Now the ball is in the government’s court,” he had said.
