Biki Ruja’s kin refuses compensation offered by State government

A CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: The aggrieved family members of the 18-year-old college student, Biki Ruja, on Sunday declined compensation offered by the State Government and demanded handing over of the security personnel responsible for Ruja’s death to them, saying “they will punish the perpetrators as per the Nyishi customary law”.

The society also called for “immediate smoldering of the entire file recommended by the Joint High Power Committee (JHPC); the resignation of the Chief Minister, the Deputy Chief Minister and Chairman of JHPC; and the constitution of a special investigation team headed by a High court retired Judge to probe the whole incident”.

“We strongly condemn the district administration for failing to deal with the protestors peacefully and also condemn the use of excessive police force. It is absolutely inhuman to issue shooting order. Our deepest condolences to those families who lost their loved ones in the protest,” said the president of Biki Welfare Society (BWS), Biki Tamo.

A fourth-semester student of Dera Natung Government college, Biki Ruja allegedly fell to security personnel’s bullet near Circuit House here while protesting outside the official residence of Chief Minister, Pema Khandu following unrest sparked by the PRC issue on the afternoon of February 24.

Dubbing the police action on the protesters as “cold-blooded murder”, Tamo questioned “is the Government now trying to buy and bury the sentiments of the deceased family by providing money?”

He also claimed that “peaceful protests to voice grievances were among the rights enshrined in the Indian constitution to people which cannot be denied by a government.

What was the need for security personnel to open fire? Why were water cannon or other crowd control measures not used to contain the crowd? And who gave the shooting order as we heard Home Minister’s statement that he had not issued the shooting order?” Tamo questioned.

Blaming the district administration for the tragedy, Tamo sought “immediate termination of the jobs of the Deputy Commissioner, Capital Complex, Prince Dhawan and Superintendent of police (SP) for their alleged failure to handle the situation peacefully.”

“Merely announcing compensation isn’t a solution and won’t give justice to my brother nor fill the vacuum in our family created by his demise until the security personnel involved in the shooting case is brought to justice,” lamented the embittered brother of the deceased, Biki Talom.

The family members also claimed that no one from the government has so far contacted them, adding that “only a third party came just to seek the account number” of his father “to deposit the compensation money”.

It further threatened that “failure to hand over the security personnel responsible for Ruja’s death within the given deadline may invite rigorous protest.”

On Saturday, the family members of Risso Tari, the first to be killed in the recent anti-Permanent Resident Certificate (PRC) agitation had refused to accept the ex-gratia amount announced by the State government and demanded that the person(s) responsible behind the “murder” to be produced before them within a week.

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