Four men had a fortuitous escape from Laitumsaw village after they were suspected of being ‘menshohnoh’, i.e. allegedly involved in human sacrifice.
Persistent superstitions such as these have led, in the past, to mob lynchings of those suspected of the practice, whereby humans are supposedly sacrificed to the mythical thlen for economic prosperity.
The four who managed to escape this time were Saiborlang Kharbudon of Laimer-Lumpdeng, Shanbor Syiemlieh of Sohra-Laitduh, Bankhrawnam Thangkhiew of Nongkseh and Khotsbunlang Nongneng Daloi of Nongumlong.
Addressing the media today, the four said that on January 8 they were returning from Koltapara on the Bangladesh border but, on reaching Laitumsaw, around 8:30pm there met a group of people fully masked and carrying weapons like iron rods and daggers who suddenly leapt out of a forest near the highway and tried to block their way.
“On seeing them with all the arms we suspected that they were looters, so we did not stop and fled the spot but they pelted stones that broke the rear window of our vehicle,” Kharbudon recounted. “When we reached Pomblang village the highway was blocked by small branches and stones which made us suspect even more that the looters were fully prepared to commit the crime so we went through the barrier. On reaching Trongpleng, however, there were huge barriers in the middle of the road and a huge mob gathered there who started assaulting us with sticks and pelted stones that injured most of us.”
The Trongpleng villagers handed them back to those of Laitumsaw. The four were driven to the Dorbar Hall in Laitumsaw where they were, they claimed, tortured until the morning.
“They snatched our mobile phones, then blindfolded us and ruthlessly tied both our hands and continued with the torture in the Dorbar Hall. They never paid heed to what we were trying to tell them and they also stripped us naked and burned various parts of our body, scratched and poke us with sharp knives, etc, and kept threatening that this would be our last day,” Nongneng Daloi said. “They even forced me to lie down and laid a sharp dagger at my neck.”
Informing that most of the mob who tortured them were also under the influence of alcohol, who refused to give even a drop of water to them and instead offered them urine, the victims said that, fortunately, someone had informed the police at Dangar who came the next day and took them to the police station before they were released.
“We have filed an FIR at the SP (Superintendent of Police) office in Shillong on January 12 and we hope that the police department takes serious note of this so that such untoward incidents against any other never happen again,” Syiemlieh said.
Meanwhile, AD Thangkhiew, the mother of one of the victims, said that such barbaric acts cannot be tolerated and there are no rules to stop people on highways with arms.
“The state government has to take these matters seriously because this is not the first time that such incidents have occurred and the police department has to intensify its patrolling,” she said, questioning why the Dorbar Shnong of the village did not stop the situation from getting out of hand.
