'NHRC guidelines followed in Oragitok incident'

A CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG, March 20: Home Minister Roshan Warjri today said that the state government has ordered for a magisterial enquiry into the alleged fake encounter at Oragitok Rimba Adinggre village in West Garo hills district.

Informing the house today, Warjri said that on March 7, the Deputy Commissioner of West Garo Hills district, instituted a Magisterial Enquiry to be conducted by an Additiol District Magistrate. The enquiry is to be completed within 30 days.

The enquiry has three terms of reference, recording of the statements under oath of all the individuals including police personnel present on duty and having information pertaining to the said incident under videography to ascertain and establish the chain of events leading to the exchange of fire and death of the individual; other information, which is relevant to the incident and felt appropriate to be placed on record by the Magistrate such as eye witness accounts and forensic evidence and in view of the serious ture of the inquiry, all deposition and statements will be recorded in camera and individually in case of each witness and deponent to establish corroborate eye witness accounts.     

The Home Minister said that on May 12 2010 the NHRC had issued guidelines to police to be complied with in all cases of deaths in the course of police action.

“In compliance of these guidelines, the police have duly registered a case on the basis of the FIR lodged by Abal M Sangma, father of the deceased. This case has been transferred to the State CID for investigation as per the NHRC guidelines,” Warjri said in her reply during the zero hour notice brought by NPP legislator James K Sangma.

She also said that as per the existing NHRC guidelines, the Post Mortem examition of the deceased was conducted by a team of doctors and the entire PM examition was videographed.

The Home Minister also informed the house that a copy of the Post Mortem report and videograph would also be sent to the NHRC by the concerned Superintendent of Police within a specific time frame.

Warjri earlier  informed the house that the series of incidents of abductions, killings, extortions, movements and sheltering of militant had been taking place at Oragitok and Romba A’dinggre villages in the West Garo hills district over the past one year.

Warjri said, “Intelligence inputs had confirmed that the GNLA was using this area as safe havens for taking shelter and for executing their nefarious activities.”