GUWAHATI: The protests by students in Manipur against the killing of two students continued on Thursday even as the Centre transferred Srinagar Senior Superintendent of Police Rakesh Balwal to the strife-torn state.
A 2012 batch IPS officer of AGMUT cadre, Balwal earlier served in the National Investigation Agency on deputation. He was also part of the team that probed the 2019 Pulwama terror attack.
For the third straight day on Thursday, students took out a protest march in Imphal under the aegis of six students’ organisations, demanding justice for 17-year-old girl Hijam Linthoingambi and 20-year-old man Phijam Hemjit.
The fresh unrest broke out after photos of the duo – before and after their death – had surfaced on social media on Monday. They were reported missing in the first week of July.
The protestors demanded the arrest of the killers of the two students and action against them, implementation of National Register of Citizens and removal of central and paramilitary forces from the state.
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They condemned the “heinous crimes” committed by “security forces in the name of curbing the voices of the protestors” and demanded an end to alleged human rights violations. Nearly 200 students were injured, some of them grievously, during the protests on Tuesday and Wednesday.
As the protests have kept Imphal on the edge with the authorities reimposing the ban on mobile internet services across the state and clamping total curfew in the twin districts of Imphal East and Imphal West, the families of the two slain students urged the authorities to locate the bodies so the last rites could be performed in a dignified manner.
Hijam Kulajit, father of Hijam Linthoingambi, said at least a small portion of the clothes she was wearing would be needed to give her a respectful send-off according to Meitei custom. The girl’s mother lost her senses and is bed-ridden while Phijam Hemjit’s mother still cooks for him, unable to accept his death.
The government has handed over the case to Central Bureau of Investigation. A special CBI team, led by a special director, arrived in the state on Wednesday and is probing the case.
Meanwhile, a government doctor in the state was suspended for posting an “inappropriate comment” on social media.