Newmai News Network Tura | February 2 Hitting out at the negligence on the part of the police is reacting to an SOS call of a family under dacoity attack, the National Peoples’ Party (NPP) has demanded immediate compensation of Rs. 3 lakh for the victims. The incident occurred on Jan 21 in the village of Garobadha under West Garo Hills, though even 12 days into the incident no breakthrough has been made in the case by the police which initially failed to register an FIR into the incident. The brutal act left five of a family with severe injuries with the oldest member, Tapan Ghosh yet to recover senses from the attack where he suffered severe head injuries. The NPP team which paid a visit to the place of incident last week condemned the brutal crime while hitting out at the police team for failing to register an FIR against the perpetrators, most of who are suspected to be from neighbouring Assam. The local outpost is only about 200 metres away from the spot of the attack though it took the place more than 90 minutes to reach the spot. “Meghalaya government has failed in its duty and obligation to provide security to its citizens, we demand that immediate compensation be paid to the family of Tapan Ghosh to meet the expenses being incurred on the medical treatment,” said James Sangma, spokesperson of NPP and Dadenggre MLA on Thursday. “The victims were attacked with sharp weapons resulting in grievous injuries. We met the villagers who informed us about the sequence of events and the subsequent lack of response from the police, local MLA and the health department,” the NPP leader alleged. The entire family of 5 is currently undergoing treatment at Guwahati and Tapan Ghosh’s is yet to regain his senses though the other members are said to be stable. “We are shocked to learn that when the miscreants armed with sharp weapons attacked the house of Ghosh, which is incidentally only about 200 meters away from the Garobadha Police Station, it took 1½ (One and a half) hours for the police personnel to reach the place,” he added. The legislator expressed his agitation for the delay in response by concerned authorities to react as by the time they did, the dacoits had made an easy escape and the victims had reached the hospital. Further the Garobadha PHC also came under criticism for their delay in transporting the bleeding victims to medical care. “We were informed that despite repeated calls for an ambulance to take the injured persons who were bleeding profusely, the 108 Ambulance arrived only after 2 hours,” added Sangma, terming the act as ‘lawlessness’. He said that there are many such cases of lawlessness along the bordering areas with Assam. “We are deeply disturbed by the frequency of such incidents of dacoity in areas close to the Assam Border. We condemn such acts of lawlessness,” the party release stated. The NPP has demanded for immediate upgradation of the Garobadha police station from an Investigation Centre to a full-fledged police station with adequate personnel. “This should have been done a long time ago keeping in mind the growth of Garobadha village from a small hamlet to a bustling Market with a very big population comprising of a very diverse populace”, said the NPP leader. The NPP team also requested the MeECL team to change the timings of load shedding as it was the time of the load shedding that the criminals took advantage of. Further in a scathing attack on the state government, the NPP condemned what it termed as the lack of seriousness of the state government in ensuring the safety of the residents of the state. “Incidents of kidnappings, sexual assault against women and minors in particular, killings and similar crimes are the highest in the history of Meghalaya. The sad part is that the government is neither taking moral responsibility for its failure nor acting upon it,” the NPP leader stated. Meanwhile the district administration has made an initial contribution of Rs 1 lakh to the family of the victims for their immediate medical expenses though the amount is minuscule in terms of the amount being spent on the treatment of the five critically injured in the incident. “This is day 12 in hospital and we have already spent Rs 8-10 lakhs on treatment. My father needs almost Rs 45,000 daily and he is still not out of ICU. Doctors have stated that it could take another 8-10 days for him regaining consciousness. We are seriously at our wits end as all the money we had was looted and we have nothing to fall back on,” said eldest son Taposh Ghosh, who himself is nursing injuries after the attack. The family has appealed to the state government to help them in their hour of need and take care of the medical expenses. On the investigation front however, police sources stated that though there were a few leads into the case, no arrests have been made as yet. CRPF personnel are currently keeping guard around the village of Garobadha to deter any further incidents of dacoity.
