EMN
Dimapur, March 25
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]nother Ao community organization has rejected the verdict of the court acquitting the persons accused for the horrific murder of a woman in Dimapur, Nungshilila Jamir, in 2013. Instead of local investigative entities, the Ao women have asked the state government to call in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the criminal case.
The apex tribal organization representing women of the Ao Naga community, the Watsu Mungdang, on Wednesday rejected the verdict declaring that justice had been denied by the system even in the face of outright evidence.
The judicial and police administration system in the state continues to attract more doubts about their competence than trust of the citizens, if the opinions and censure of the local population in the recent years are anything to consider. Recent law and order events in Nagaland continue to point to the condition of law and justice administration in the state and continue to alienate the people.The statement from the Watsu Mungdang comes close on the heels of various Ao Naga community organizations criticizing the verdict of the local court that acquitted the accused earlier this year.
“The court verdict delivered by the Dimapur session court on February 18, 2015 in the murder case of late Nungshilila is unacceptable by Watsü Mungdang,” the organization stated in a press release issued to the media on March 25.
“The public outcry and demand for justice has been denied. The inability of the special investigation team to nap the guilty despite overwhelming evidences is deplorable. Therefore the Watsü Mungdang demands the government to immediately taken rein of the situation and let the CBI probe into this case, so that rule of law and justice prevail in our Naga society,” the organization stated.
Just yesterday, another local organization had censured the courts and police for issuing a startling verdict for a case which according to one organization was an open-and-shut case due to the apparent number of evidence
On March 24, the Ao Senso Telongjem of Dimapur issued a stern warning that it would not stay back and watch the ‘miscarriage of justice.’ The Ao Senso Telongjem of Dimapur district had met on March 22 where the leadership of the community organization expressed full support to the statements of two other community groups, the Longkhum Lanur Telongjem and Ongpangkong Senso Telongjem of Dimapur, concerning the horrific murder of Nungshilila Jamir – and the subsequent ‘botching’ of the case allegedly by the Dimapur police and local court.
The Ao Senso Telongjem of Dimapur had asked the court and investigating agencies to dispose off the case at the earliest ‘by maintaining the scale of justice so as to avoid the miscarriage of justice.’
ASTD leaders had told media persons that, ‘It clearly exhibits the justice delivering system in the state is not as sound as it ought to be.’ The organization’s leadership has cautioned that if the case proceeded in the ‘same manner’, it would ‘utterly murder the justice delivery system for which the ASTD will not remain as mute spectator.’
Earlier this month, the Longkhum Lanur Telongjem had demanded reopening the case. In a representation to the Nagaland state chief minister, the organization had leveled serious charges including a possible compromise of the case by the police and investigation agencies.
The group had alleged that the “insensitive and ineffectual Dimapur police has bungled the investigation and turned one of the most simplest of rape and murder cases into a complex one that led to the acquittal of the accused.”
The organization had alleged that “There was bungling in the filing of FIR at Dimapur West police Station; no finger prints were taken from the scene of the crime; seized articles and alleged murder weapons were not sent to forensic laboratory for chemical analysis; blood-stained jacket recovered from the residence of one of the accused was not produced in court during trial and confession of accused was not recorded in accordance with law by the Magistrate on duty serving under the Government of Nagaland.”
The state government was told by the organization to report the action taken about the case by April 10, 2015. The organization has stated a warning that it would resort to other course of action if the government failed.
