Two murders most foul
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: June 03, 2013 -
Protest at Malviya Nagar Police Station, New Delhi on Mysterious death of Reingamphy Awungshi on May 31 2013 :: Pix - Deepak Shijagurumayum
The two cases may have taken place at different places and time period, but the uncanny similarly between the murder of Reingamphi Awungshi and that of Loitam Richard is hard to be missed.
More than being cases of ‘murder most foul’, what strikes the people is the prejudice of Indian police not just in handling the two cases but also in their general racist attitude towards people from North eastern region staying in other parts of the country as a whole.
Just as in the case of Loitam Richard, a second semester student of Acharya NRV School of Architecture, Bangalore, who was found murdered in his hostel room on April 18 last year after a reported fight with some hostellers over switching the TV channel during a cricket match telecast, the lifeless body of 21-year old Reingamphi Awungshi, who worked in a spa, was found in her rented room at Chirag Dilli, Delhi on May 29 last.
Despite the tale tell signs of ‘murder most foul’ in both the cases, the manner in which the police have handle the case, Karnataka police in case of Loitam Richard and Delhi Police in the case of Reingamphi Awungshi, have demonstrated to the hilt their prejudice and racist attitude towards Northeasterners, thus leaving a bad taste in the mouth of everyone.
As in the case of Loitam Richard, where Karnataka police tried to cover up the crime by linking the death, first to an injury Richard sustained from a minor motor accident he met few days earlier and then to drug abuse, Delhi police too have tried their level best this time to brush aside the death of Reingamphi Awungshi as a case of suicide from drug overdose purely on the assumption that some empty wrappers of tablets were found in the dustbin of the rented room, while completely oblivious of the fact that the young woman was lying in a pool of blood on her bed with mobile phone on her hand and the back door of the supposed locked room was ajar.
As in the case of Loitam Richard, the police not only refused to register an FIR over the death of Reingamphi Awungshi, ruling out possible murder despite prima facie evidences that showed more than what meets the eye.
Like throwing salt on the wounded sentiment of the aggrieved Northeasterners, Delhi police like their Karnataka counterparts, have come up with the most racist comment when one of its top officers said that such incidents (death of Reingamphi Awaungshi) are bound to take place since girls from Northeast work in spas.
So, it was only after three days of intense protest and night-long vigil in front of Malviya Nagar Police Station that prompted the intervention of local MLA and Minister of Health, Women and Child Welfare Kiran Walia that an FIR in connection with the murder of Reingamphi Awungshi was registered and the case handed over to the Crime Branch for re-investigation just like in Loitam Richard’s case, where different investigating agencies took turn until the cry for justice was drowned for anyone to remember anything.
We hope the similarities of the two cases just end here and that of Reingamphi Awungshi overtakes towards its logical conclusion for the sake of North East people who are facing racial discrimination in their own country, every day of their life.
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