IMPHAL: A large number of people on Saturday paid floral tributes to reformed rebels Chungkahm Sanjit and Rabina Devi who were gunned downed by Manipur police commandos in an alleged fake encounter at Imphal Bazaar on July 23, 2009, even as the bereaved family members are demanding a speedy probe into it to punish the guilty cops.
Sanjit, a former rebel, was gunned down inside a pharmacy on Bir Tikendrajit Road, while pregnant Rabina was hit while she was moving along with her son. Six civilians were also injured in the shootout that triggered a prolonged civil movement against "state terrorism". Justice (retired) P G Agarwal, who conducted a judicial inquiry into the incident, submitted his report to the state government on May 17 this year while another case taken up by the CBI on the same incident is still pending.
Incidentally, families of the deceased persons and several local pressure groups stayed away from the inquiry saying that they had no faith in such probe.
Amid tears, mourners, including members of the bereaved families, key leaders of the Apunba Lup and civil bodies paid floral tributes to Sanjit and Rabina at a ground here where a meeting was also held.
Earlier in the day, the mourners had abortively attempted to hold the mourning ceremony at the high security Gandhi Memorial Hall and Manipur Press Club in the heart of Imphal. On security reasons and non-possession of meeting permissions from the authorities, police prevented them from organizing the functions at these two venues. "Two years have gone and my son's killers are yet to be punished. This is not fair. We want the CBI to speed up the case and punish the killer commandos, who snatched my son's soul," a broken Taratombi, mother of Sanjit, told TOI.
Her husband Chungkham Khelen, who was running a motor workshop at Maram bazzar in Senapati district, has now come to his residence at Khurai area in Imphal area only to groom their remaining three sons. "Before his death, Sanjit had somehow managed to help our family's economic burden by working as a painter but now we are having a hard time to groom my three sons - Vishal, Momocha and Monish," she said.
Seven police commandos, including a sub-inspector, had been suspended in connection with the shootout. The public outcry against the incident compounded after a national magazine carried out the story along with telltale pictures of Sanjit being surrounded by heavily armed police before he was shot inside the pharmacy. During the five-month-long stir period, education system collapsed in the valley areas as three powerful students' organizations boycotted classes on the plea that right to life was more important than right to education.