Is Satyabhama's case really solved? A big doubt!

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Sit-in-protest at Singjamei on Dr Satyabhama's killing on April 06 2013 :: Pix - Deepak Oinam

A fear psychosis is slowly spreading to every woman of this State and their guardian due to the increasing crime against women in the State during the last few years. It is indeed shameful to admit that even infants are not spared in this new wave of murder and rape which is slowly sweeping through every nook and corner of Manipur. The sensitive and law abiding citizens have not yet recovered from the horror of Premila case's which happened last year whereby her charred body was found without her head and they are being 'gifted' with another of such incident with the Satyabhama's case.

The Women Committee of United NGOs Mission Manipur, leading newspapers of Manipur and many civil organizations have already pointed out many loopholes in the statement issued by the police on Satyabhama's case. Numerous loopholes have also been pointed on various online communities and social networking sites by concerned netizens of this state. Moreover, every household that has felt the gravity of Satyabhama's case is absolutely unsatisfied with the way the case has been handled and solved. So many questions remained unanswered.

According to the statement released by the police, James who is already a married man was having a 'love affair' with Satyabhama, who had no knowledge of his marital status. He tried to break up with her and took the help of his 'notorious' friend Biju. Biju called out Satyabhama from her home around 2am past midnight and took her on his two wheeler rodeo on the pretext that he will help her elope with James. He tried to molest her on the way while driving his two wheeler rodeo and in the process her legs got hurt.

After his first attempt to molest her, they agreed to stop at a waiting shed so that she can tend to her leg injury and he tried to rape her again. When she resisted, he killed her by strangulating her with the scarf she was wearing. He took her lifeless body on his two wheeler rodeo at a distance of about half a km and disposed it off. Latter, Satyabhama's lifeless body was found with decomposed/charred face, neck and hands making her unrecognizable along with a big luggage bag and her lady bag. Her body from down her neck was intact though.

Some of the important loopholes in the story released by the police as pointed out by various sections of our society are:

Does it seem reasonable that a woman how naïve she might be would leave her house past midnight to go with her boyfriend's friend whom she barely knew on a two wheeler all by herself? It contradicts with the statement issued by her parents that she left home in the morning and her family members were waiting for the news of her elopement when she didn't return back. How is it possible for Biju to molest Satyabhama who is pillion riding, while driving the two wheeler vehicle? It is not humanly possible to drive a two wheeler and molest the one who is sitting behind at the same time.

After his first attempt to molest her, would she still follow him and come to a mutual agreement with him to stop at a waiting shed to tend to her leg injury instead of fleeing from him? A matured normal girl like her would usually scream and try to flee from her rapist. How is it possible for Biju to carry the lifeless body of Satyabhama who is around 5'6 tall and weigh more than 80kg on a two wheeler like Mahindra Rodeo and dispose it off all alone instead of fleeing from the spot?

A large luggage bag was also found next to her lifeless body. How Biju managed to carry both her lifeless body and the large luggage bag on his two wheeler rodeo is a big question. He even took the trouble to carry her lady bag besides the large luggage bag when he carried her lifeless body on his two wheeler vehicle. So many miscellaneous stuffs he had to carry along with her lifeless body on his 'super' two wheeler rodeo!

There were also no explanations for the decomposed/charred face and upper parts of Satyabhama's body in the statement released by the police. How did her face, neck and hands got charred or decomposed while her lower body parts remained intact and who did that to her body is a big question. According to Biju's statement, he attempted to rape her but couldn't succeed in doing so. In every high profile cases with respect to crime committed against women, the usual procedure is to ascertain whether the victim had been raped or tortured with sophisticated autopsy procedure which involves numerous experts, validation and verification from various sources.

Can we fully rely on the expertise of JNIMs in making the autopsy report where the lifeless body of Satyabhama was kept without even showing the decency to cover her body with a piece of cloth. There was no mention of the autopsy report in the claims made by the police. Since the autopsy report was never made a basis for the claims made by the investigating teams, we doubt whether a proper autopsy was done on Satyabhama to ascertain whether she had been raped or tortured before and after she died. It could have provided some of the most vital clues to the investigation. It could also have provided the reasons for the decomposed or charred upper body parts. Should we believe there were only three culprits involved and not an involvement of another fourth or fifth party?

According to the statement issued by the police, it seemed as if the main 'hero' of this whole story, Mister James is not very guilty except for having an illicit relation with her while being a married man. Should we believe that he is not as guilty as Biju or is he really the person whom Satyabhama claimed to be her boyfriend? He maybe, but we couldn't trust enough because the investigating team have not given a clear authentic scenario of the whole event and we are fed with some ambiguous investigation reports.

James gave his address as Nongmeibung to Satyabhama and it was reported that days before she died, she came to Nongmeibung for mobile recharge and inquired about the whereabouts of a person from Nongmeibung who was nonexistent. He also claimed that he gave away her phone number to his friend Biju who already had a bad reputation with police cases on his head and took his help to break up with her which is unexpected from a normal boyfriend. It may also be mentioned here that Satyabhama took some 3000 bucks from her friends and told them that she is going to Guwahati for a health checkup implying that she might be absent from work for some days.

Can a friend of her boyfriend whom she barely knew convince her enough of an upcoming 'probable situation or event', compelling her to borrow such an amount of money besides hinting on the possibility of an absence from work for few days to her friends, without the involvement of her boyfriend? The duo also used different sim cards registered under fake names to call up Satyabhama? They even took enough precaution not to call any other number with the last sim card that was used to call up Satyabhama just before she died.

There was also no mention of the role played by the maruti car which was recovered from Jibon in the statement of the police. Doesn't it point to the fact that they already preplanned the crime together from before and that it wasn't a crime committed from spur of the moment? It also makes one believe that Satyabhama's murder is some sort of an organized crime with so many unexplained loopholes. We can never say for sure if the story narrated by Biju and James were the real story or if the number of culprits involved in the case were just limited to the three of them. Without knowing that truth and booking all those who are involved in Satyabhama's case, we can never claim that the case has been solved.

It would also be worthwhile to take into consideration an article by the Imphal Free Press on April 8, 2013 titled "Was Satyabhama gang-raped and murdered?"According to the report which is based on credible sources and investigation, when the irate JAC members and public started burning down the house of one of the main accused Ksh Biju, an aged woman who was Biju's neighbor ran out to inquire about the commotion.

When the youth explained that Biju was Satyabhama's killer, the elderly woman told the youths that she had overheard cries of a woman emerging from Biju's residence at around 2 am in the morning of April 3. It is to be reminded that Biju often fought with his wife and she left for her maternal place that day. The elderly woman heard repeated scream of a woman with the words "eigi thawai dadi kanbiyu" (please spare my life). Later she heard a car drive in and after some time it drove out.

Afterwards, the screams emerging from the house ceased, the elderly woman mentioned. Isn't this narrative a more logical explanation of Satyabhama's murder rather than the illogical explanation as provided by the police even if it's not the whole truth? We wonder if the public have been provided with the complete news of all the incidents related with Satyabhama's killing or if there were no involvement of the 'high and mighty'who always got their share and escape without even getting a strand of their hair hurt.

Whatever it maybe, the bottom line is, thorough investigation is needed to book and punish the right culprits to give justice to Satyabhama and her family. If this case is abruptly resolved in such a childish manner, there is no doubt that crime against women will dramatically increase in Manipur far exceeding any metropolitan cities as the criminal minds would be given assurance that they will always have an easy escape route.

It is also worth reminding that people should refrain from useless gossip and playing 'blame game' to the victim as it happens in any society which takes pleasure in showing subtle sarcasm to other's misery as long as their own family is safe, secure and happy. It is really disheartening to hear disgusting statements from many self proclaimed 'chaste and rational' gossip mongers. Words like; "nupi dugisu maral leiramgani" (The girl must be having her own faults), "nupidubu nupa do jugot chadese khangdro? Magisu maral natro" (Doesn't the girl know that the guy is not good, it's also her fault).

Here I would like make a clarification to all my dear gossip mongers. Firstly, stop taking pleasure in other's misery by spreading false rumour because it is not helping in any way to bring justice. Please remember that what has happened to Satyabhama may happen to your own mother, sister or daughter. As for those who feel that she is also at fault for going out with a con man, it is to be reminded that such con men are well versed with their profession of duping people.

When so many people in this state have lost lakhs and crores of rupees in networking and were totally duped by networking con men, isn't it a micro task for such con men to dupe a girl who doesn't even have much experience with men before? There was also much emphasis on a pregnancy test kit that was recovered from her bag when her lifeless body was recovered initially. What was the importance of highlighting pregnancy related topics if it was not to play an important part in the solving and unfolding of this case.

Are we even sure that those were pregnancy test kit and not her laboratory stuffs which she usually carried in her bag for laboratory related works? It is not even ethical to mention such sensitive topics like pregnancy if it is to be avoided and brushed aside latter on in the case. Such unethical rumors in such a sensitive case only dramatize the case so that orthodox and 'ignorant' people refrain themselves from supporting Satyabhama and her family in this fight for justice by questioning her chastity which is morally wrong and unexpected from the public.

It also compelled her parents to make clarification on the newspaper that their daughter is not pregnant by showing her recently washed clothes at their backyard. Rather than indulging in such rumors, it would be much more helpful to march for justice to punish the culprits so that such criminal minds would think twice before they try to rape or murder another woman again.

We should remember the impact of public protest in Delhi's gang rape case which clearly showed the power of the public. Let us not put a rest to Satyabhama's case by only torching down the houses of the 3 culprits which cannot be equated to the life of an innocent girl, rather, let us also demand the truth and seek for proper justice. And before our respected Chief Minister decides to give away award or recognition to the Special Investigation Team of Satyabhama's case in an abrupt manner, please let them dig out the real truth before the case even disappear from media's spotlight so that all the culprits can be rightly punished for their barbarous act.

As always, this case may be put to rest and dissolved without bringing proper justice to the victim and her family when another high profile case puts it at the backdrop. Our state doesn't have dearth of such crimes and unfortunate incidents. Lost amidst the festivities and never ending thabal chongba and housie, Sataybhama's case may have the usual ending of every crime in Manipur with the words, 'Asibatana mangjei aroibadadi' (ultimately, the loss is of the one who died) until and unless the general public, the law makers as well as the guardians of this state do something about it. Call me a pessimist but I'm not much hopeful based on the past experiences of this State.