| Woman hit by police bullet, gunman not a rebel: families |
| Imphal, July 26: The Ibobi Singh government was once again staring at a major public uprising as yesterday’s “encounter” in the heart of the capital drew howls of protests and demands for separate probes by relatives of the woman killed in the crossfire and the slain suspected militant. Family members of both the woman and the gunman refused to accept the bodies claiming respectively that while she died in police firing, he was not a militant. The capital appeared to be in a state of shock even today as people questioned the action of the security forces in drawing the suspected militant into a gunfight in a highly populated area leading to the death of the woman hawker, 23-year-old Th. Rabina Devi. Doctors said Rabina was six months pregnant. Her husband, Chinglensana Singh, is still in a state of shock. “Nothing can bring my wife back,” he said. Five other persons also sustained bullet injuries during the shootout between police commandos and the gunman on the busy Bir Tikendrajit Road in Imphal West’s Lamsang area. While neighbours and family members of Rabina today demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident, residents of Khurai Sajor Leikai in Imphal East, the locality of the gunman, identified as Ch. Sanjit, also demanded an inquiry into the incident. The people of Lamsang, where Rabina resided, held a protest meeting and those of Khurai Sajor Leikai in Imphal East today staged a sit-in demanding a probe. The protests continued despite Ibobi Singh telling the Assembly yesterday that the death and injuries were caused by indiscriminate firing by Sanjit. Ibobi had also that said Sanjit was earlier arrested as a cadre of the People’s Liberation Army and once detained under NSA. The man was killed in retaliation after he fired at the police and tried to escape by opening indiscriminate firing, Ibobi Singh had told the Assembly. But the police could not say whether the man was still a cadre of the group or not. A large number of shops in the city remained closed today in response to a 24-hour Manipur bandh called by women vendor organisations, including Manipur Keithel Nupi Marup, against the death and injuries. “I am still in shock. It is the innocent people who are suffering as a result of the armed conflict,” Thaibemma Devi, a vendor said. She sells vegetables near the spot where Sanjit died. Thaibemma said she could not see who fired the shots as she fled on hearing the first shot. “I later learnt that a woman died and several others were injured.” At the incident site, people milled around and discussed the police action. The mood was more of anger as the people felt that the commandos could have avoided the encounter in the busy place. At a meeting, Lamsang residents resolved to demand a judicial inquiry. The meeting was attended by nearly 200 villagers. “Eyewitness accounts suggest the casualty was caused in firing by the police,” a resolution adopted by the meeting said. The same was the mood in the slain “militant’s” household. “My son was innocent. He no longer had any link with militants, though he had in the past. He was leading a normal life. He went to Imphal to buy medicines yesterday for his uncle, now undergoing treatment at Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital. The police killed him after he was arrested,” Sanjit’s mother Inaotombi Devi alleged. Khurai Sajor Leikai also formed a joint action committee to take up the matter with the government. Protesters blocked Khurai road by burning tyres and placing felled trees. Today’s bandh hit transport services, particularly in the valley. But private vehicles plied on Imphal roads. The bandh also disrupted classes in some educational institutions. But there was no report of any violence. |