New Delhi: A few days after mobile internet was restored in Manipur, photos of two Meitei students, who went missing on 6 July after they left their home on the pretext of tuition classes, surfaced on social media.
One of the photos shows the two students sitting at the grassy compound of what appears to be a makeshift jungle camp of an armed group. Two men with guns stand behind them. In the next photo, their bodies are seen slumped on the ground.
Soon after they had gone missing, the families of Hemanjit Vietimboy, 19, and a 17-year-old girl approached the police multiple times as well as searched for leads themselves.
Each time, they were turned away by the police asking to wait for the “situation to get normal,” the family members told ThePrint. “The police have failed us.”
Although the parents had little hope of their children returning, the photos brought a painful closure to the episode for the two families.
In a statement Monday, the Manipur Government said that the case was already handed over to the CBI and that the investigation is on.
It further said that the police, in collaboration with the central security agencies, are “actively investigating” the case to determine the circumstances surrounding disappearance of the two students and to identify the perpetrators who murdered them. “The security forces have also started the search operation to nab the perpetrators,” the statement added.
The girl’s father, however, said that he does not have any faith in the government and its statements.
“All this while, we kept knocking at so many doors for help, telling them that the kids have been abducted. We gave them clues too, but they just did not do anything. Today, when their photos have gone viral, they have released a statement. There was absolutely no action till now. They say they have given the case to the CBI, but even that team has not done anything,” he told ThePrint over the phone.
Phijam Ibunggobi Singh told ThePrint that he even shared the location where his son Hemanjit’s phone was switched on, but the police refused to go to the “Kuki area”
“They could have been saved. I did the investigation for them and told them that the phone was switched on in an area, but they did not do anything. They told me that they cannot go to the Kuki area at this moment. I begged them to speak to their counterparts, but they did not. They just registered the FIR and kept sitting,” he said. “Now that the photos have gone viral, they are issuing this statement, which means nothing to us.”
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The day they went missing
On 6 July, the two victims — both Class 11 students from Imphal West — decided to venture out when the Manipur government had relaxed the curfew in the area. The two just wanted to spend some time together. While the girl told her parents she was going for tuition classes, Hemanjit left home on the pretext of going to a football game.
Little did they know that the journey was their last.
As the day went on, with no sign of their return and their phones switched off, their families became increasingly anxious and began a search. The girl’s family arrived at the tuition centre, where they found from CCTV footage that she had left with her male friend on a bike. By afternoon, they approached his family, only to find that he, too, was missing.
Hemanjit’s father told ThePrint that the two had just gone out for a ride.
“They knew little about this conflict. Nor did they know about the situation being so dangerous outside. They knew something was happening in Manipur, but they had no idea what and why. They did not even follow the news, they were kids. They ventured towards the hills thinking of getting some time away, but that cost them their lives,” he had told ThePrint.
In Manipur, over 175 people have been killed and more than 50,000 displaced ever since the Meitei-Kuki ethnic clashes began in May.
The girl also left home early in the morning for a 6 am class, but when she didn’t return home by 8.30 am, her mother called her on the phone to ask about her whereabouts.
Speaking to ThePrint, her father had said that during the call, his daughter initially mentioned being around Nambol Bazaar, but, within seconds, she claimed to be in Khoupum, two locations 15 km apart. Then, abruptly, someone snatched her phone, cutting the call off.
On 7 July, both families again set out on a search, following a probable route of the couple, that led them to Phougakchao Ikhai, a village in the foothills of Bishnupur district, close to Churachandpur.
They informed the police at Phougakchao Ikhai police station that the locals they had spoken to informed them about the abduction, but they did not have any significant leads. Days later, on 11 July, Hemanjit’s phone came on at Lamdan, a village in Churachandpur, his father claimed.
“His handset reactivated in Lamdan, but from a different SIM card. Someone from the cyber-crime unit told me that. I told him why don’t you go and arrest that person? He told me that it is difficult for them to go towards Churachandpur due to the ongoing conflict,” Hemanjit’s father recalled.
(Edited by Tony Rai)