GSU rejects police claim

A CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG, March 6: The Garo Students’ Union (GSU) has rejected the Meghalaya police’s claim that the son of a Nokma (village head) who was shot dead earlier this week was involved with the GNLA even as it demanded punishment against the policemen and a judicial enquiry into the incident.

According to the GSU, the killing of Sengbat Ch. Marak was a total misadventure of the part of SWAT team.

“Sengbat Ch. Marak for all his faults was not a member of any militant organisation nor was he involved in any activities with them,” the GSU said.

“The GSU has on enquiry found out that Sengbat Marak is innocent of the charges the police alleged against him and that he was killed maybe with a motive but is vague for now,” the students’ body alleged.

The GSU alleged that the whole incident may be linked to a conspiracy.

According to the GSU, Sengbat was a security guard at a Vodafone tower in the Arbella hill range.

The students’ body said that Sengbat was uneducated and illiterate and could not even write or spell his own me.

The GSU also said that the deceased, according to his friends, was very friendly person and almost avoided any trouble in the village despite being the Nokma’s son.

Meanwhile, the villagers of Romba Adinggre village said that they have had enough with police atrocities and harassment.

The villagers stated several incidents to the effect - in the first incident when there was some dacoity near their village where a person was killed, people travelling in the pick-up were robbed, police instead of a proper enquiry harassed the villagers, in the second incident the villagers alleged that police brought and killed two people in their village and called it an encounter.

“The fake encounter with Sengbat, the Nokma’s son, was the fourth incident in the village and the villagers have decided that they have to do something to protect themselves from the police,” the GSU said.

The GSU also said that many cases in the past are yet to see the light of day. The students’ body cited the instances of Washington Marak, Witson Sangma and Balsan Marak.

The GSU also demanded that a Psychological Counselling Cell be provided to police personnel who are constantly engaged in anti-insurgency operations.

“To be frank, it is war for the police personnel constantly engaged with the militants and some of them suffer from war trauma. It is a legit point to demand a psychological cell to monitor their mental state,” the GSU said.

The GSU also demanded that the Meghalaya Government set up an independent Interl Affairs Department to monitor the overall health of the police department so that corruption and killing as an answer to every problem be kept in check.

It may be mentioned here that Sengbat, son of the village nokma of Oragitok, under Rongram block of West Garo Hills, was killed in a police shootout with suspected GNLA militants on last Wednesday.