Bodies of Hmar youth accepted by families after Gauhati HC order; next hearing on Sept 10

Guwahati, Aug 11: Nearly a month after their deaths, the bodies of three Hmar youths were finally accepted by their families on Saturday, amidst wails and mourning.

This followed a recent order by a division bench of the Gauhati High Court. The bodies were released under tight security and transported to Hmarkhawlien village for funeral rites.

Since their deaths, the bodies have been kept in the morgue at Silchar Medical College and Hospital, and on Saturday, a large gathering from the Hmar community was present during the handover, bidding a tearful farewell and paying their last respects to the deceased.

Residents of Hmarkhawlien univocally stated that while they respected the court's order, they could not accept the notion that the slain youths were militants.

On July 17, three suspected Hmar militants—Lallungwai Hmar, 21, and Lalbikung Hmar, 33, both from Lakhipur in Assam’s Cachar district, and Joshua, 32, from Churachandpur district in Manipur—were killed after being arrested by Cachar police the previous day.

According to the police, the trio was killed during a crossfire with other militants.

However, the families of the deceased rejected this account, refusing to take possession of the bodies and demanding an investigation into the circumstances leading to the deaths.

They approached the Gauhati High Court, alleging torture during the arrest and extrajudicial killing.

The families have also called for an independent inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation, in addition to seeking compensation.

Previously, several civic society groups and student organisations had expressed scepticism about the Assam police’s claim that the trio were militants, instead alleging that their deaths were “extrajudicial murders.”

Following the post-mortem reports, which revealed bruises in addition to bullet wounds, the Hmar Students’ Association asserted that the three deceased were “village volunteers” defending “Kuki-Zomi-Hmar villages” from “Meitei militants.”

Meanwhile, the court has granted the Assam government two weeks to submit a detailed affidavit on the incident by August 30, with the case scheduled for further hearing on September 10.