The families of three men, who were accused of being Hmar militants and were killed by the Assam police on Wednesday morning, have raised questions on the circumstances surrounding their death, citing a video which purportedly shows them being apprehended from an autorickshaw a day earlier.
In a social media post on Wednesday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote, “In an early morning operation, Cachar police killed three Hmar militants from Assam and neighbouring Manipur. Police also recovered two AK rifles, one other rifle, and one pistol.”
Cachar borders Manipur’s Jiribam district, which has been on the boil since last month. The Hmar community is part of the Kuki-Zo ethnic group, which is in conflict with Meiteis in the state. There is also a Hmar population in Cachar, and a large number of Kuki-Zo people, including Hmars, who have been displaced from Jiribam, are currently taking shelter in Cachar.
A 1 minute 18 second video that emerged on Wednesday shows the men being apprehended by the police from an autorickshaw. The three men – Joshua, a resident of Senvon village in Manipur’s Pherzawl district; and Lallungawi Hmar and Lalbiekkung Hmar, both residents of K Bethel village in Cachar district – can be seen being moved out of the autorickshaw by the police.
The first to step out, who relatives identified as Lallungawi, can be seen leaving a brown bag on the seat. The others step out next, and are seen being checked by the police. A police personnel then takes the bag and steps away, before another personnel opens and rummages through it. He starts shouting that there is a pistol in it, but does not pull out the weapon.
In an early morning operation, @cacharpolice killed 3 Hmar militants from Assam and neighbouring Manipur. Police also recovered 2 AK rifles, 1 other rifle, and 1 pistol. @gpsinghips
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) July 17, 2024
According to a statement by the Cachar police on the incident, the men had been apprehended from the autorickshaw on July 16, and the police had seized an AK-47 rifle, a single barrel rifle and a pistol along with ammo from them.
Police claimed they were interrogated, and “revealed that their counterparts are still taking shelter around Bhuban Hills with a huge cache of arms to carry out some subversive activities in the Assam-Manipur border areas”.
According to the police, on Wednesday, they launched a special operation in that area, during which they came under fire from “suspected militants” taking shelter in the hills, to which they retaliated. The police stated that they had taken the three men with them to the site, and had given them bulletproof jackets and helmets, but they died in this crossfire. They went on to say that the “suspected militants” who had fired at police managed to flee.
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The families of the men said they are not aware why the men were in Cachar. Joshua’s family in Pherzawl said he had been away from home since June 10 after being called on to become a “village volunteer” once violence flared up in neighbouring Jiribam.
“What happened to them was a human rights violation. We can see that they were in an autorickshaw and did not resist the police at all. We cannot see any weapons with them in the video. The policeman says there is a gun but doesn’t show it. He (Joshua) is not a militant. He is just a jhum cultivator who was called to be village volunteer by our apex tribal body,” said Ramhlunkim, a pastor from his village who was with the family.
Lallungawi Hmar’s uncle Lalshung said that both men left their village in Cachar on Tuesday, saying that they were going to visit Mizoram. He said they worked as daily wage labourers.
“They are wearing civilian clothes in the video. No weapon can be seen. There is something very wrong with the series of events the police have given. We think this was a fake encounter and the police have broken the law. We have not taken the bodies from the morgue and we will not take them till there is justice,” he said.
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The Indian Express sent Cachar Superintendent of Police Numal Mahatta a questionnaire regarding the claims made by the families. He did not address the questions and pointed to the statement issued by the police.
Civil society organisations meanwhile asked for an investigation into the circumstances of their deaths. The Indigenous Tribes Advocacy Committee, the apex body for the Hmar community in Jiribam and Pherzawl, called the incident “a severe breach of human rights and an alarming abuse of authority by the Assam police force”. It demanded that central investigative agencies initiate an independent inquiry into the incident.
The Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum, a Kuki-Zo organisation based in Churachandpur, demanded that the Assam government institute an “impartial investigation” and expressed hope that the National Human Rights Commission take suo motu cognizance of the deaths.
