East Jaintia Hills police are yet to identify the persons involved in the murder of Evamon Siangshai, a student of Class X studying at Wapungskur Secondary School.
The body of the 16-year-old school girl was found along with her school bags and books from a forest at Ar Kilo village yesterday. Family members said that she went missing since March 12 after she went to school.
Police have conducted preliminary investigation into the case including forensic inquiry. The girl’s body is being kept at Khliehriat Community Health Centre for post mortem.
The murder of a school girl from Pamrakmai in East Jaintia Hills has drawn strong condemnation from various quarters including demand for immediate arrest of the culprits.
Pamrakmai village secretary Iaikiewbha Rymbai has appealed to the police to speed up investigation and arrest the murderers.
“Several innocent people including women and children have fallen victims to criminals and in most of these cases, the criminals are yet to be identified and arrested. This is not acceptable,” Rymbai said.
JSU Khliehriat Circle president Livingson Dkhar Sama said the incident has brought fear and insecurity among people especially women and children.
“Police should not take this incident lightly. Immediate steps should be taken to identify the culprits and arrest them so that these crimes are eradicated from our district,” Sama said.
ENJC Khliehmyntriang unit president, Lektor Dkhar said that this is not the first time that such incident took place in the district.
“The government should be serious on this matter. We also urge the personnel of Khliehriat Police Station to track down the persons involved in this murder and punish them strongly so as to instill a feeling of security among people,” he said.
Both the organisations also conveyed their condolences to the parents of the murdered girl.
Meanwhile, Khliehriat Block Congress Committee (KBCC) working president Piwell Shylla alleged that the weakness of law enforcing agencies and failure to identity and arrest criminals has led to such repeated murder cases in East Jaintia Hills.
Condemning the slow pace of investigation, Shylla also mentioned the failure by police to arrest the culprits involved in the murder of a school girl at Sohkymphor village in December 2020.
“If the police fail to trace and arrest criminals then it is like giving criminals a free run and encourage them to commit more crimes,” he said.
Shylla also urged the State government to set up a fast track court in the district so as to speed up prosecution and conviction of criminals.
He also demanded strengthening of police intelligence in the district in order to thwart criminal activities and arrest criminals in time.
The KBCC president also expressed concern over the silence maintained by MLAs and MDCs of East Jaintia Hills on the rising crimes against women and children including murders.
“Why are they silent? We never heard them speaking out when crimes took place and also on measures to deal with crimes,” Shylla said.
Shylla also appealed to all organisations, youth groups and the community at large to stand up against crimes.