Slain cops remembered

CHAIBASA: At a function organised at the Chaibasa Police Lines on Friday, rich tributes were paid to 15 police men and 4 civilians who laid down their lives fighting the MCC in the Saranda forests between Tirilposi and Digha villages, on December 19, 2002.
SP Pradeep Kumar ‘Praveen’, while inaugurating the programme, narrated a brief history of the events leading to that incident.He said that sacrifices made by the jawans and the civilians would not go in vain. He said that best tribute to the martyrs would be to wipe out the menace of extremism from the district completely.
Jayant Muniyalla, commissioner, Kolhan division, sought the co-operation of the citizens for the attainment of the objective of maintenance of law and order and complete rooting out of extremism. Wreaths were placed at the memorial by Munnigalla, deputy commissioner Amrendra Pratap singh, SP Pradep Kumar ‘Praveen’ on the occasion, two NGOs, Marwari Yua Manch and Bengali Sevasamiti who donated three generators respectively to Chaibasa police for fighting extremism. But behind all the rhetorics, the fact remains that the government’s effort to wipe out extremism has several loopholes.
Almost everyday one or the other district in the state witnesses some kind of extremist activity. Though the police have been able to win people’s confidence upto a great extent, in neighbouring villages people are still gripped by fear psychosis. Moreover, the work of the intelligence agencies are far from satisfactory.
The anti-land mining vehicle which was purchased with much fanfare is now lying unused. The Jharkhand DGP had announced that helicopters would be pressed into services to monitor the activities of Naxalities in the jungles and that bombs would be dropped to paralyse their movements, but no efforts have been made in this direction so far. Sumitra Ghosh, wife of the slain police inspector, Malay Ghosh, who was a victim of MCC attack in the Saranda forests last year, is now a broken woman.
No police official, or any high-up has visited her place during the last one year to express any kind od sympathy, said Sumitra. She is now residing alone in a house owned by Jan Kalyan Samiti in Mango, Jamshepur. The government did provided a job for her minor son but she is not willing to let her son join the career. She also recalls how her husband’s body was lying uncared in the forests for full five days. Had she not gone to Manoharpur in search of her husband, his body could not have been found. Many other families of the slain cops are facing the same situation.