SHILLONG, June 17: The Meghalaya State Commission for Women (MSCW) will seek action against the police personnel who failed to act on a complaint of domestic violence against Jeofresson Jana two days before he allegedly killed his two children.
The mother of the minors had lodged the complaint at the Rynjah police station.
MSCW Chairperson Phidalia Toi said the commission would write to Home Minister Lahkmen Rymbui seeking to know why the police did not act on the woman’s May 27 complaint against Jana for assaulting her by the roadside while she was on her way to work.
Toi said the police instead told the mother of the slain children that it was a family dispute and suggested counselling for her husband.
“The decision of the police to not take action is highly questionable since the man was a habitual offender and also an alcoholic,” the MSCW chairperson said.
She said the two minors might not have died three days later had the police acted on their mother’s complaint in time. What happened to the children appeared to have been the fallout of the woman’s decision to go to the police, she added.
“We would urge upon the Home Minister to ensure that the law protectors cease to be insensitive and lethargic. We will recommend action against the erring police officials,” Toi said.
She said no woman would go to a police station just for the sake of going there.
“If it (a case) is not serious, nobody would go to a police station. So, the police should not take anything lightly. The members of the commission are resolute that such lapses do not take place again,” she said.
MSCW coordinator Annie Sohtun said the police could have forwarded the case of domestic violence to the one-stop centre for immediate intervention.
She said the mother should have gotten immediate relief according to the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.
Sohtun also said the police should have acted immediately on the mother’s complaint about her missing children on the night of May 27, more so after she had complained against their father on May 27.
“The police should have been able to connect the dots since the father was a habitual abuser. The police should have been sensitive enough in dealing with this kind of crime,” she said.
