Shillong, June 17: The Meghalaya State Commission for Women (MSCW) on Friday recommended strong action against the police for failing to act on the complaint filed against J Jana, who killed his two children at Wahktieh forest, Nongrah on May 30.
“We will write to the Home Minister Lahkmen Rymbui and we will insist that this kind insensitivity and lethargic habit of the law enforcers should be done away with as we cannot accept this as many women they won’t go to the police station just for sake of going there,” MSCW chairperson Phidalia Toi told reporters at a news conference.
She said that the incident could have been avoided had the police take prompt action on the complaint filed by the mother of the two children on May 27.
“Three days before the tragic incident, the mother had already gone to the police station to complain that her husband (J Jana) had assaulted her on the roadside while she was on her way to work. (Unfortunately) the police did not take any action but only said that it was a family dispute (that needs to be resolved through counseling since her husband was an alcoholic),” Toi said.
“(Therefore), the finding of the women commission is that there was a gross negligence of the police to take action against the accused. Had they been prompt to do the needful, the incident could have been prevented…” she further added.
Toi informed that the members of the commission held a meeting and “Our resolution is that come what may we will insist that this thing will not happen again.”
When asked, the chairperson said that no credit can be given to the police on this case till the arrest of the accused.
“Because there was no action taken by the police. That is why we will strongly recommend to the government to take strong action on this,” she maintained, adding the police should be sensitive towards the plight of women.
On the fear of people from filing domestic violence cases, Toi said, “Sometimes people don’t want to file the case because they are afraid. We don’t know if maybe there is a threat as what happened to those two kids was a kind of revenge because that mother had gone to the police station to report about the assault. Maybe they are afraid and let us say there are many reasons for people not to file FIR.”
She however said there is an alternative for the police to take action in case women do not want to file an FIR.
“The police under the Domestic Violence Act could have referred the case to the one step centre to the protection officer for immediate intervention so that such things could be prevented,” Toi said adding “We will recommend that all domestic violence cases should be done in this way.”
According to her, the DVA is to provide immediate relief to women even if they are not willing to file an FIR.
“The Domestic Incident Report is a civil law so she will immediately get relief. So they will take necessary action according to what she gives her story,” she said.
29-year-old J Jana was arrested from his residence on May 31, just hours after the bodies of his two children, aged 4 and 2 years old, were recovered from Wahktieh forest.
He was booked under section 364 and 302 for abduction and committing murder.
Preliminary investigation by the police had revealed that the heinous crime was committed out of vengeance.
