Funeral of victim held in native village, body bore fatal injury marks
Staff Rporter
DIMAPUR SEPTEMBER 13
LONGSA village under Wokha district witnessed the funeral of one of its own today. The body of the teenage girl, a student of class XI of Don Bosco Higher Secondary School, Bhandari was laid to rest after she was allegedly murdered and her bodyrecovered from the banks of a river between Merapani and Bhandari .
No clear facts leading to her death have emerged three days after she went missing and two days after her lifeless body was recovered. Sources close to the family of the deceased informed Eastern Mirror that the search for the missing girl yielded results only on the second day of the search.
Two persons, reportedly told a local resident of Merapani that when they had gone into the forest to collect bamboo-shoot on Thursday morning they heard a sound akin to something being dragged and also saw traces of the same. Afraid of not knowing what was happening they left the spot.
It was their report that the search team to the area on Friday when the teenagers body was recovered by the side of a stream.
The source also told this daily that her death was unnatural pointing to strangulation. Her head also bore an injury mark of a blunt iron object.
At this stage the postmortem report is awaited for further details and to confirm or rule out any other physical abuse on the girl. The report according to district authorities is expected early next week.
Meanwhile, civil and student organizations such as the Naga Mothers’ Association (NMA ) , the Dimapur Longsai Ekhung (ELE), the Kyong Students’ Union(KSU) have all condemned the incident. They have unanimously demanded that the authorities find the culprits behind the alleged murder of the teenage girl student, and justice be delivered.
The body of the class XI student was found on Friday by the banks of a river between Merapani and Bhandari under Wokha district, during a search for the student who did not return home reportedly after school hours on Thursday.
The NMA in its statement from the President and secretary said “there should be justice for the victims. Every girl and woman should be able to live safely, feel protected and grow up free of violence and the justice system should be key to addressing the problem’.
The statement from the general secretary Dimapur Longsai Ekhung (DLE) stated ‘the murder of an innocent school going teenage girl exposes the unsafe environment of our society especially faced by women.
It urged all responsible bodies like Kyong Student Union, All Nagaland Private School Association, the Catholic School Association, Longsa Student Union to take urgent steps in voicing their discontentment of the murder of an innocent girl.
Meanwhile the Khyong Students’ Union(KSU) announced it will organize a Protest rally at Bhandari Town on Sept 16th,2014 to protest the murder of the teenage student. The students of Merapani and Bhandari Town from class 1 and above are informed to gather at Bhandari Town Local Ground, on Sept 16th, 2014 at 9.AM in full school Uniform and attend the rally.
The Union has requested all the educational institutions under Wokha District to observe a minute’s silent prayer and ‘declare a half holiday on September 16th,2014 as a mark of protest’, for the murder of a student in her school uniform. The KSU has also requested all the Kyong Civil Organisations under Bhandari Town to cooperate with the union during the rally.
The Union stated ‘while praying to give solace and strength to the bereaved family and grant eternal peaceful rest, it also urges the District Administration and Police to ascertain and arrest the culprit at the earliest and award befitting punishment as per the law of the land.
