Indigenous People’s Forum strongly condemns killing of three Hmar youths

Haflong: The Indigenous People’s Forum (IPF) condemns, in the strongest terms, the inhuman act meted out upon the three Hmar youths—Lallungawi Hmar, Lalbiekkung Hmar, and Joshua Lalringsang of the IPF Community on July 17.

The condemnation was signed by S. JEME, working president of L. KUKI, president of L. HLIMA KEIVOM, and the general secretary of the IPF stated that as per the statement of the S.P. of Cachar, arrested at Krishnapur Road around 4.30 PM on July 16 and were interrogated, during which they revealed that their counterparts were taking shelter in Bhuban Hills. A special operation was launched on the morning of July 17, around Bhuban Hills, during which three militants wearing bulletproof jackets and helmets were apprehended after being injured in crossfire. Later, they were announced dead at the Silchar Medical College Hospital (SMCH).

If the bullets riddled dead bodies at the SMCH were those of the so-called militants who were apprehended from the Bhuban Hills during the so-called special operation in the morning of July 17. After being injured in a cross-fire, where are the three youths who have been arrested the previous day? Where have they gone? If the three youths were killed in an encounter, as the Assam Police have contended, how is it possible that when they were apprehended, they were in ordinary dresses, but after their being killed they were in combat uniforms? As is called divine hand, a video shot by the police themselves that goes viral on social media clearly shows that the three youths were apprehended by the police while they were travelling in an auto rickshaw in Cachar on July 16 without using any force. Another video, which goes viral in social media shows that the three youths who had been arrested were bound with ropes and taken to an undisclosed location in the forest. Later, their bullet-riddled bodies turned up at the Silchar Medical College Hospital (SMCH) Morgue.

This type of extrajudicial killing ought to be condemned by all sections of citizens so that the same is not repeated in the future. In the above-mentioned case, we demand an impartial judicial inquiry into the incident. We also demand the National Human Rights Commission take Suo motu cognizance of the deaths and act accordingly.

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