Retired Chief Justice T Vaiphei, who led the inquiry into the police encounter-turned-killing of the ex-Hynñiewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) militant, Cherishterfield Thangkhiew has found that the killing was well laid plan but executed poorly, recklessly, hastily and without proper application of mind.
Justice vaiphei in his report said,” Therefore, my finding is that the Tactical Team-I in carrying out the operation to arrest the deceased at his residence on 13-8-2021 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.”
Vaiphei in his finding stated that it was a botched up operation and failing in its objective of apprehending the deceased alive, who could have given the police valuable information about the subversive activities of the proscribed HNLC outfit.
The inquiry report was tabled in the floor of the House today during the first day of the Autumn Session.
The commission also made further recommendations which include:
(a) Raiding a residential house occupied by civilians in urban areas at night in pursuit of criminals/to arrest them should not be carried out so that innocent occupant(s) are not harmed in any manner.
b) The police personnel deployed for night operation should be provided with night vision devices (NVDs), if they have not been so provided; these devices are available in the open market.
c) The use of tear gas grenades should be made mandatory for the security forces while raiding residential houses in urban areas.
d) In the event of raiding such residential houses, the primary consideration should be to avoid endangering the lives of innocent civilians or to prevent avoidable collateral damage.
e) Sensitization of the police force to respect the human rights of the citizens is the need of the hour; a course to that effect may be organized from time to time.
f) Henceforth, whenever any raid of this nature is being conducted in urban areas, an ambulance should be made a part of the team so that unnecessary loss of life can be avoided.
