Meghalaya High Court disturbed by SIT finding that death of cop who detained trucks with illegal coal was suicide

The Meghalaya High Court on Wednesday halted the trial in connection with the mysterious death of a police official who had detained 32 trucks that were allegedly transporting illegally-mined coal. [Smt Dorothy Marbaniang vs State of Meghalaya and Ors.].A bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W Diengdoh noted in its order that the findings of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that sub-inspector Pearlystone Joshua Marbaniang died by suicide in January 2015, were disturbing and not satisfactory..After opining that a fresh investigation may be required, the Court proceeded to halt the trial. "Even though the State says that the trial is proceeding, it does not appear that the investigation was satisfactory. Accordingly, let the trial not be continued till further orders," the Court's order stated. .During the course of the hearing, the Chief Justice told the State counsel:“Very difficult for us to understand how a person can be shot in the back of the head. Or a person can commit suicide by shooting himself in the back of the head. So the trial has to be stopped and we will require a fresh investigation. From what we have read, it does not appear to be a case of depression. We owe our duty to everybody, all of us have to be fair, a person has died. No ghost came and killed him. We do not think he killed himself. Please look into it. Otherwise, people will not have confidence. It could have been your child or my child, have to be absolutely impartial.".The bench directed Meghalaya Additional Advocate General K Khan to assist the High Court in the case..The High Court noted that the SIT report, however, also revealed the extent of illegal mining or procurement and transport of coal, timber and stone in the State. ."Incidentally, the report of the SIT reveals what had been suspected by this Court in the matters pertaining to illegal coal-mining. The SIT report indicates the existence of registers with fixed rates per truck for allowing illegal transportation of illegally-mined coal, illegally-felled timber and illegally-extracted boulders. There are names and officials have been identified in some cases," the Court observed, in its order. .The matter will be taken up next on July 27..The Court was hearing a plea by the mother of police officer Pearlystone Joshua Marbaniang, who had sought a probe by the Central Investigation Agency (CBI) into his unnatural death. Earlier, in March 2016, the High Court had rejected the plea. After the case reached the Supreme Court, the top court remitted the matter back to the High Court last May.The High Court subsequently asked the then SIT comprising Meghalaya Police officials, to prepare a fresh report.Pertinently, as per media reports, a day before Joshua was found dead, he had said he was under tremendous pressure to release the trucks he had detained the previous night..Advocates N Syngkon and L Phanjom appeared for Joshua's mother. Additional Advocate General T Yangi B with government advocate R Conley represented the State..On a related note, the High Court has also been hearing a suo motu case on illegal coal mining in the State.Last year, the Court had warned that the issue needs to be deeply probed without any political agenda.In March 2022, the Court observed that such illegal activities were being carried out with the connivance of the local administration.In February this year, the Court ordered the deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) to monitor and stop the practice. This order, however, has been challenged before the Supreme Court.Earlier this month, the High Court had also suggested that the Central Bureau of Investigation should look into the menace of illegal mining..[Read Order]