Dino D.G. Dympep (right) addresses the news conference in Shillong on Wednesday. Picture by UB Photos
Shillong, Apr 21 : The Meghalaya People’s Human Rights Council today demanded an independent inquiry into the death of Washington N. Marak, who was allegedly killed in a fake encounter in January in East Garo Hills district.
Marak, 50, a resident of Sasatgre village around 300km from here, was killed in an alleged fake encounter at Rongrekgre village near Williamnagar across the Simsang river under East Garo Hills district on January 26.
Police had said Marak was a member of the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA).
The incident had sparked protests in Garo hills, following which the state government was forced to initiate a magisterial inquiry headed by the sub-divisional officer of Resubelpara, Ram Singh. Singh was appointed the head of the one-man inquiry commission on January 29. He was asked to submit his findings within three months.
“We are apprehensive about the outcome of the inquiry as we fear that there would be no independence in the conduct of the probe,” secretary-general of the council Dino D.G. Dympep said while addressing reporters here. He said from past experience, magisterial inquiries in Meghalaya have “never been transparent”.
Urging the government to initiate an independent inquiry into the death of Marak, Dympep said the investigation should be according to the guidelines issued by the National Human Rights Commission on May 2010. He said a probe by Meghalaya CID would be appropriate.
“Civil society should also come together and demand for an independent probe to ensure that justice is done,” Dympep said, adding that the magisterial inquiry might be a cover up to protect the perpetrators of the alleged fake encounter.
Dympep said the NHRC, acting on a writ petition filed by the state rights body on January 31, directed Meghalaya director-general of police, East Garo Hills district magistrate and East Garo Hills superintendent of police to take appropriate action for the investigation of the case, according to the guidelines laid down by the commission on May 12, 2010.
The commission, in its letter dated February 14, had also directed the state government to submit the magisterial inquiry report, post-mortem report and report of the inquiry by an independent agency within two months.
East Garo Hills deputy commissioner Pravin Bakshi said the magisterial inquiry commission had asked for another month’s extension from the National Human Rights Commission.
“A few days back, we wrote to the commission seeking another 30 days to complete the magisterial inquiry in view of the attempt on the life of the inquiry officer on March 21,” Bakshi said.
On March 21, Resubelpara SDO Ram Singh, on his way to Rongrekgre village, was fired at by a suspected GNLA militant. Reports indicate that there were around five other militants who were involved in the incident.
As part of the probe, Singh wanted to visit the site of the alleged fake encounter. He was leading a convoy of three Gypsy vehicles when he was attacked at a place nearly 2.5km from the Simsang river.
Investigations indicated that the attack was directly linked with the magisterial probe.
It may be mentioned that apart from Marak, four others were also arrested after the encounter while a huge cache of arms and ammunition were recovered. The arrested were later released after an enraged mob surrounded the police station where the four were kept.