Child rights panel to seek status report on filicide case

SHILLONG, June 2: Terming the recent case of filicide as “special”, the Meghalaya State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MSCPCR) has decided to seek a status report on the investigation of the case.
The case in question is the sensational murder of two minors by their father, Joefreeson Jana, at Wahktieh, Nongrah Nonglum, on the night of May 30.
Talking to reporters here on Thursday, Chairperson of the Commission, Iamonlang M Syiem, urged upon the police to expedite the investigation of the case.
“We normally get status report from District Child Protection Officers (DCPOs), police and judges of POCSO cases. But we seek the status report if it is a special case,” Syiem said.
She said that the MSCPCR understands the pain, agony and shock felt by the mother of the two minors, as well as the mother of the accused.
Syiem, while lauding the support exuded by the residents of Nongrah locality towards the family of the mother who lost her two kids, acknowledged the fact that no discrimination was meted out to the mother of the accused.
“Many people are in a state of shock and have had sleepless nights,” Syiem said.
Airing concern over people’s naivety, the MSCPCR chairperson said that the picture of the deceased minors along with their mother and the family should not have been shared on social media.
She said that there are provisions in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, and the IPC which will entail punishments for those that reveal the identity of children.
“I would request (you) to delete if you get such videos. It creates more pain and anger. We need to feel what the family is going through. Even the comments that people are making is damaging,” she advised the public.
Earlier, Superintendent of Police (City), Vivek Syiem, had informed that the father had confessed of committing the murder.
According to the SP (City), the father had revealed that he had problems with his wife as she had not allowed him to come back after their separation.
“He wanted to come back but she wanted to stay separately. He had just come out of rehabilitation centre,” Syiem said, adding that the accused had committed the filicide in a fit of rage and revenge.
However, not ruling out other factors that may have led the accused to perpetrating the crime, Syiem said such aspects will be investigated by the Special Investigation Team (SIT).
Earlier, a court had remanded Jana in five-day police custody.
The accused was on Wednesday produced before the court of First Class Judicial Magistrate, KE Rymbai, who remanded the former to police custody.
The funeral of the two minors was held on Thursday.