[Staff Reporter]
KHONSA, 21 Sep: Following the death of 24-year-old Lokhi Wangsu, of Naitong village in Borduria circle of Tirap district, whose body, bearing bullet marks, was found near the forested area of Hukanjuri near the Arunachal-Assam border on 18 September, the locals of Naitong village have strongly appealed to the governments of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam to launch a thorough and impartial investigation into the incident to ensure early justice for late Wangsu’s family.
On 20 September, a team of the All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU), accompanied by members of the All Tirap District Students’ Union (ATDSU), visited the spot where Wangsu’s body had been found.
The AAPSU team interacted with Wangjem Wangsu (late Lokhi Wangsu’s father) and the villagers.
Wangjem Wangsu informed the AAPSU team that, on the night before the incident (17 September), his son had told him that he would be going to the jungle in the morning to look for their missing cow.
“I was worried when he did not return till afternoon, as I, along with many villagers, heard the sound of about 5-6 gun shots coming from the forest. I told others in the village that my son had left in the morning for the forest and had not returned. We went looking for him into the nearby forest and later found his dead body near the trunk of a fallen tree.
“My son was shot in the chest, and the killers also put a gun barrel into his mouth and shot him,” said the bereaved father.
He further claimed that his son was killed inside Arunachal’s boundary and then his body was dragged elsewhere.
“My son’s body had several injury marks all over. There was also a black mark over one of his eyes, which meant that he was tortured,” Wangjem alleged, and questioned the Assam forest authority’s excessive use of force over an innocent villager.
“Boundary problem is everywhere, but is it right to shoot someone fatally? Is this acceptable in a democratic country like ours? If he has done something wrong, they could have shot him in the leg or arrested him and put him in jail. Why shoot directly?” he demanded to know.
The father also fervently appealed to the state government led by Chief Minister Pema Khandu to initiate strict action against those involved in the brutality at the earliest.
Wangjem also took exception to the statement of the Tirap DC and the Deomali forest range officer, both of whom had claimed that the area where the incident took place fell under Assam’s jurisdiction.
“The area is till now disputed. Both Arunachal and the Assam governments claim the area as their own. There has not been any notice or demarcation defining the boundary between the two states yet. How can the DC and the Deomali forest range officer make such a claim? The matter is not yet resolved,” he said.
The villagers have also expressed serious resentment over the statements from the DC and the Deomali forest range officer, and demanded that both officers retract their statements.
“How can both the officers single-handedly make such statements without any documents or records for proof? Last year, as part of the boundary meeting, four people from the village, under the guidance of the Deomali forest range officer, went to the area for mapping. The boundary between the two states has not been declared and the issue remains unsolved,” said a villager.
He went on to add that, since the establishment of Naitong village in 1977, the people of the village have been venturing into nearby forests for collecting bamboos for building houses, collecting firewood, or growing vegetables. “We do not go there with the motive to trespass. All we know is that the area falls under Borduria Towang reserved forest and we are within our state’s boundary. There is no demarcation in the disputed area. The Assam government claims the area as Dihing Patkai National Park, but the neighbouring villages in Arunachal, including us, have not yet received any notification or circular about the actual boundary from where Assam’s forest area begins,” the villager added.
The villagers further claimed that the Assam forest authorities in their FIR stated that “the incident occurred between timber smuggler and Assam forest officials.”
The villagers have termed the incident a cold-blooded murder.
AAPSU vice president Nabam Gandhi assured the victims’ family that the AAPSU would call on the home minister and demand a joint investigation in both Assam and Arunachal.
Meanwhile, Tirap DC Hento Karga has formally retracted the statement in which he had incorrectly labelled the location of the incident as being part of the Assam reserved forest area.
“An urgent re-verification process is now underway, with an impending report to address the situation,” said Karga in his statement, and condemned the incident in the strongest terms.
