Shillong, Sept 22: The Hynniewtrep Youth Council today has sent letter to Meghalaya Chief Minister Mr. Conrad K Sangma, Mr. Prestone Tynsong, and Mr. Lahkmen Rymbui urging them that Government should hand over to Central Bureau Investigation to investigated on the death of former general secretary of the HNLC Mr. Cheristerfield Thangkhiew.
The letter sent by the HYC to the Chief Minister stated that, The operation of the Meghalaya Police on 13.8.2021 leading to the Death of the Deceased person, had caused widespread protests and public disruptions and as such it had become a matter of concern for the Government to pacify the people of the State at that point of time.
Hence, the State Government vide Notification dated 20-08-2021 had constituted the One Man Commission of Inquiry with the terms of reference including ‘to hold an inquiry into the circumstances leading to the Police action on 13th August, 2021 resulting in the death of deceased; to give a fact finding report as to the culpability or otherwise of the police action resulting in the death of the deceased; and any other circumstances which are relevant, in the opinion of the Commission’.
The Commission constituted above, after a period of 9 months, finally submitted its Findings to the State Government. On the said Report, the Commission had clearly remarked that “the operation was a well laid plan, but executed poorly, recklessly, hastily and without proper application of mind. In other words, it was a botched-up operation..”.
The Commission also remarked strongly that “In my considered view, the post facto excuse that none but the deceased was hurt cannot be a valid justification for carrying out the operation hastily and in a reckless manner by the Tactical Team-I.
Therefore, my finding is that the Tactical Team-I in carrying out the operation to arrest the deceased at his residence on 13-08-2021 at about 3 AM was culpable of thoughtless and excessive use of force, which resulted in the death of the deceased, late Cheristerfield Thangkhiew, which turned out to be avoidable”.
The findings of the One Man Commission constituted by the Government is very clear that the member (s) of the Tactical Team-I are/is culpable of causing the death of the deceased person and hence they should be investigated into, put to trial and prosecute those involved in this crime as per law of the land.
It is shocking to see that the State Government instead of acting on the observation and findings particularly at Para 34 of the Report of the Commission, is either trying to delay the matter deliberately or is trying to save those involved in this ‘botched up operation’ by issuing the so-called ‘explanation call to the Tactical Team-I’ as per the Memorandum of Action taken on the Inquiry Report.
The Commission also remarked in Para 32 “If the primary objective of carrying out the operation was to capture the deceased alive, the manner in which the raid was conducted unnecessarily gives rise to the impression that that was not so. This is very unfortunate”.
This remarked in our opinion make us ponder as to the fact that there may be a conspiracy to eliminate the deceased and not to capture/arrest him alive and which we feel that there should be an investigation to unearthed the truth as to whether there was any criminal conspiracy and to prosecute all those involved as per law.
The HYC demand that the circumstances leading to the death of the Deceased should be investigated into by an independent investigating agency, other than Meghalaya Police, and if the investigation has already started, then the same should be handed over to the CBI for further investigation and for prosecution of all involved in the commission of the crime leading to the death of (L) Cheristerfield Thangkhiew. The letter sing by the general secretary Mr. Roy Kupar Synrem.
