IN Garo Hills militants are running riot. The Tuesday incident at Chokpot where a woman was shot at from point blank range by an automatic rifle because she resisted a rape attempt on her, should bring all human rights groups to Garo Hills. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) too ought to take suo-moto notice and proceed to investigate this and other grave matters including deaths in police and judicial custody – matters that have made news in Garo Hills in the last few weeks. People of Garo Hills are shell shocked but are too afraid to protest since the militants have fire power. Added to that is the fact that there are too many militants and factions to deal with and no one really knows who is a sympathizer of which group. The atmosphere is completely vitiated. So while there are protests against police misdemeanors there is complete silence on the brutality and murderous activities of militant groups, especially that of the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA). These double standards of civil society and church groups have only added to the murky scenario in Garo Hills.
Last month some women vigilantes abducted 13 young women sex workers, kept them in their custody and tortured them. Pictures of the torture women were circulated on the social media. What convolutes the entire incident is the fact that the Deputy Commissioner, West Garo Hills had given permission for the alleged sex workers to be kept in the custody of the vigilantes. Later he clarified that it was for the purpose of counseling them. Now counseling is something that a trained professional does. Counselors are non-judgmental; they don’t punish their clients. They listen with empathy and offer solace even if their clients are people with questionable antecedents. The DC should have used the services of the District Social Welfare Office which is supposed to have trained counselors.
Garo Hills is a completely chaotic territory and unless some strict action is taken against all militant groups right away the ordinary citizen is held captive and immobilized with fear. People of Garo Hills have now forgotten the very idea of freedom.
