THE death of 21-year-old Reingamphi Awungshi in Delhi on 29 May has
once again brought into focus the plight of North-eastern communities,
the youth and women to be specific, who struggle to make both ends meet
while building a career in metropolitan cities.
Awungshi hailed
from Choithar village in Manipur’s Ukhrul district. A beautician, she
came to Delhi recently after a short stint in Chennai with the dream of
making it big in the capital. Sadly, it turned out to be just the
opposite. She was found dead in a rented room in Chirag, South Delhi.
Prima
facie, the police registered a case of suicide under Section 306 of the
IPC. They claimed to have found empty medicine foil wrappers in a
dustbin and near her body. Her face and feet bore marks of rodent
bites. The police reportedly broke open the door of her room after the
houseowner informed them.
In contrast to the police version, the
photographs that relatives of the deceased had taken showed bloodstains
on the bedsheet. Suspecting murder, they requested the Delhi police to
register an FIR but they turned it down. The relatives refused to accept
the body unless an FIR was lodged.
The scene outside the All
India Institute of Medical Sciences was a classic case of the police’s
insensitivity and indifference. While trying to convince relatives and
friends, the Malviya Nagar police station officer showed them a page of
the post mortem report which had a few records showing that the organs
were intact. While the relatives insisted on an FIR, the police officer
explained that “the case is under section 174 CrPc” which is normal
police procedure and that they did not require another section or an
FIR. When they argued, the police officer said, “Har case me FIR nahi
hota.”
A female relative replied, “Itna bewakoof mat banao, hum ko bhi pata hain kanoon.”
Others asserted, “We are citizens of India, we have the right to file an FIR.”
The
police officer insisted on relatives taking the post mortem report and
sending the body for embalming, suggesting he was in a great hurry to
wrap up the case so that he could attend to “other” business. Both sides
stood their ground.
Soon the frustrations of North-eastern
communities turned into anger. Hundreds of them hit the streets and
protested before the Malviya Nagar police station, demanding that an FIR
should be registered. They shouted slogans like “Are we not citizens of
India?”
The demonstration continued throughout the night and
into the next day (31 May). Only after the Delhi minister for health,
women and family welfare, Kiran Walia, came into the picture, was the
case transferred to the Delhi Police Crime Branch. A second post mortem
was conducted after five days — on 4 June — and section 302 (IPC) was
added to the case and an FIR lodged.
In any such incident, the
first thing the common citizen will do is to seek police help. For the
North-eastern communities who continuously face physical or verbal
threats, there is no alternative but to seek police help. In fact, all
North-east communities living in Delhi have an updated list of police
stations and their officials. Perhaps a necessity, after experiences of
numerous encounters or attacks by the locals.
Unfortunately, this
is where the trouble, or rather, the politics begins. People repose
faith in the protectors of the law but sometimes they are “cold” towards
the people whom they are supposed to serve. It is more so if those
involved in cases happen to be women and young girls from the
North-east. Even before starting investigations, their first
“impression” or “opinion” is that they wear “provocative clothes”, and
are involved in “drug abuse” and “relationship-related suicide”.
This
sort of preconceived opinion was obvious in Awungshi’s case.
Immediately after her body was taken to the AIIM, the Malviya Nagar
police station allegedly made an anonymous statement to the national
media that they suspected drug abuse while maintaining that it was a
case of suicide. As law enforcers, the police have a responsibility and a
role to bridge the gap between North-east communities and mainland
Indians. But they seem to be doing just the opposite by creating
mistrust. Had the Malviya Nagar police station personnel showed some
humane approach in dealing with the case, there would not have been any
demonstration by irate North-east communities. Such a gesture would have
helped solve many a grievance of North-east youth in the capital.
Whether
collusion, reluctance or an unwilling to act, the police’s “working
style” is an advantage for local houseowners, who, in any case, are ever
ready to “throw out” North-eastern tenants at the drop of a hat.
Friends and relatives of Awungshi were allegedly threatened with dire
consequences by locals of Chirag when they were holding a candlelight
condolence two days after the incident. They were denied entry to the
house where the incident took place. Besides, some of the participants
in the condolence meeting told this writer that “pamphlets” in Hindi
were distributed in and around the locality.
It is also a fact
that police and security agencies in most cases act on “pressure” and
that, as admitted and revealed by the police themselves as well, there
are higher authorities who give directions and commands. Was it bribe or
was it cover-up, or was it that the police and security agencies
perform their duty under instructions from faceless, anonymous
authorities? These are provoking questions that demand answers.
The writer is a New Delhi-based freelance contributor
The Statesman NE page , June 10,2013
