DC orders magisterial probe into Diana Marak’s ‘s death

Shillong, July 24:  East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner RM Kurbah has ordered a magisterial probe into the mysterious death of Diana Marak at Shillong Polytechnic hostel on May 6

The authorities had concluded it as a suicide case.

The deputy commissioner said additional deputy commissioner D. Kharshiing will conduct the magisterial probe and the order was issued on July 22.

Many questions were raised by the pressure groups from Garo Hills on behalf of the clan members and close relatives of the victim as they met the deputy commissioner on Tuesday .

The pressure groups also submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner.

• • At around 3:00am on the 06.05.2024, the elder sister of the deceased received a call from a unanimous number however, as it was in the wee hours, the sister of the deceased could not wake up in time to receive the call. Nonetheless, having been woken up, she immediately called back the number, and the person on the other hand informed the sister that the dead body of Late. Diane Dimre Ch. Marak was found hanging in the Girls’ Hostel, Shillong Polytechnic Institute.
  • At the same time, the parents of the deceased woke up upon hearing the crying and yelling of their daughters (including the one who received the call). As the daughters were sleeping on the first floor and the parents on the ground floor, and upon inquiring their daughters about the hue and cry, they could not receive any reasonable answer from them as they were in a state of shock. All they could mutter was,“sister is dead”. After that, the mother of the deceased took hold of the phone and asked as to whom she were speaking to, on which the other person replied that he was a faculty member of Shillong Polytechnic Institute. He further, assumingly informed the mother that her daughter has committed suicide by hanging herself inside the Shillong Polytechnic Campus which was vague and not specific.
  • On hearing the news, the mother enquired the person on the other end about his identity and the person reiterated that he was a faculty member of Shillong Polytechnic Institute and that he too was from the Garo Community, and also a resident of A·gillanggre, Tura. Till date, the family members of the deceased cannot identify that person. Furthermore, the mother of the deceased requested that person not to bring down the body of the deceased without the presence of a local guardian or a family member, as there were relatives and family members of the deceased who were residing at Shillong at that particular day and time.
  • Immediately after the call, the parents of the deceased started making calls to relatives and family members as to what needs to be done in that matter and further, booked a rental car to travel to Shillong and to receive the body. Furthermore, she instructed two of her relatives who were residing in Shillong at that moment to immediately rush to the Shillong Polytechnic Campus and inform the authorities that the body of the deceased is not to be meddled with until the relatives and family members arrive at the scene, as travelling from Tura to Shillong requires a minimum time period of 6 to 7 hours.
  • As per the instructions given by the mother of the deceased, two of her relatives, who were at that time residing at Shillong, rushed to the Shillong Polytechnic Campus, and reached the campus at around 4:00 am on 06.05.2024. However, upon reaching the campus, they were informed that the body of the deceased was already taken down despite the absence of relatives and despite the request of the mother of the deceased.
  • Upon hearing that the body of the deceased has been taken to the hospital for autopsy, the relatives who rushed to the scene informed back the parents of the deceased and dissuaded them from going to Shillong, as their main request was not considered (which was to be present at the time of taking down the body of the deceased). The parents of the deceased gave in to the dissuasion of their relatives as apparently at that point of time there was no reason to suspect any foul play and the fact that they have to prepare for the funeral ceremony and the rituals.
  • The body of the deceased was brought back home after all formalities were fulfilled, by 10:30 pm on the 06.05.2024. However, due to the timing it was decided by the parents and the relatives that the burial of the body will be followed up on the 07.05.2024. It was on the following day i.e. on the 07.05.2024 prior to the burial of the body while performing the ritual of cleansing the body (‘Auata’ ritual) that the relatives found out, that the body of the deceased was bearing multiple injury marks on her body, namely; burnt mark on her front neck, bruised mark on her chin, injury marks on both hands, injury mark on back neck, injury marks on right elbow. ( Photographs of injury marks enclosed as annexure-I)
  • It is upon witnessing the injury marks, the family members and the relatives of the deceased started questioning the claim that Diana Dimre Ch. Marak committed suicide by hanging herself. Furthermore, it led the family members of the deceased to retrospect on a matter that transpired a day prior to the incident i.e. on the 05.05.2024.
  • That, on the 05.05.2024 at around 3:00 pm, the deceased called her father very distressed and crying. Upon enquiring why she was crying, she simply kept silent and did not answer to any of her father’s queries. The father having no reason to be suspicious of any foul play innocently assumed that his daughter may have failed her examinations and was thus, crying and stressed out, telling to cope with her examination results. Nonetheless, upon reaching home, the father informed the other family members of the incident.
  • Upon hearing about the incident, one of the elder sister of Late. Diana Dimre Ch. Marak tried to contact her, however, she did not receive the phone and thus, the sister called her younger sisters who were at the time residing at Orissa and Shillong respectively to contact her and asked to enquire her about the matter and to find out what was bothering her.
  • Accordingly, both sisters who were residing in Shillong and Orissa tried to contact her, however, Late. Diana Ch. Marak did not receive the call of the younger sister who was residing at Shillong but she did received the call of her other younger sister who was residing at Orissa at around 3:00 pm. As per the narration of the younger sister of Late. Diana Ch. Marak, when the younger sister asked her why she was distressed, the deceased informed her that some of her fellow students came to her room and insulted and verbally abused her and accused her of spreading rumours. She even mentioned a name of a student and her group of friends as her abusers.
  • At around 4:11 pm, the father of the deceased, himself in distress owing to his daughter’s condition called her again and asked her what was the cause of her distress. However, the deceased only gave a cryptic answer saying “jenan ka·dongachim, uaba, ong·ja”, which may be roughly translated to whoever I trusted also have failed.
  • At around 7:00 pm, clearly worried by the behaviour of their daughter, the mother of the deceased called her again. The mother asked her as to the reason why she was depressed, to be only answered by silence. However, after much persuasion from the mother, she finally professed to her mother that her classmates were bullying her, and they even threatened her to leave the hostel and campus. Upon hearing what the daughter has said to the mother, the mother instructed her to intimate the principal, upon which she replied, “I’m at the hostel and it’s late, so I cannot intimate the principal” and thus, the mother counseled her to inform the warden of the hostel, to which she replied, that the warden was absent, upon hearing the state of affairs, the mother advised her to have patience and tolerate until any solution is found.
  • At around 9:00 pm on the 05.05.2024, the younger sister of the deceased who is also residing in Shillong called her again and asked her if she has taken her meal, to which she answered that she had not taken her meal, to which the sister again asked if her roommates had their dinner, to which she replied that they had not had their dinner either, after which she did not respond or answer to any of the queries made by her sister, however, she did not disconnect the phone but rather stayed silent without interacting.
  • On the 06.05.2024, post the news of the death of Late. Diana Dimre Ch. Marak, the roommate of the deceased called the elder sister of the deceased at between 10:00 am to 12:00 noon, whereby, she informed regarding the incident that transpired on the 05.05.2024 and as per the recollection of the elder sister, the following sequence of events took place; 5(Five) of the classmates of the deceased came to the room and verbally abused the deceased , upon enquiring why, the roommate informed the sister that a farewell program was organized for the outgoing 6th Semester students of the department of Civil Engineering of Shillong Polytechnic Institute on 04.05.2024, whereby, the deceased was put in-charge of collecting the necessary amount of money for the preparation of the farewell program. Furthermore, she also informed that the deceased was coerced by her peers/classmates to ask for financial assistance from professors of other departments, to which she did not agree. As per the roommate, it was after the farewell program that the classmates came to their hostel room and verbally abused the deceased. The five classmates demanded the deceased to refund the amount of money which they contributed for the farewell program. They further accused her of spreading some rumours and while leaving, they also said to the deceased that they will not forgive her. Upon hearing about this incident, the sister asked the roommate what rumours they were talking about, to which the roommate did not answer and stayed quiet. Despite persuasion, she refrained from speaking about the rumours. Upon failing to persuade the roommate to talk about the nature of rumour, the sister finally asked the roommate if indeed the deceased spread any rumours, to which the roommate answered in negative and further added that the deceased only talked about the rumours in front of her roommates but nonetheless, did not elaborate on the nature of the rumours. After this conversation, the sister further asked the roommate if the five classmates were accusing the deceased of misappropriation of funds/money, to which the roommate replied in the negative.
  • On the 08.05.2024, as per the claim of the father of the deceased, the father of the roommate of the deceased, paid visit and claimed that his daughter, the roommate consoled the deceased up to 2:00 am on the 06.05.2024. However, as per post-mortem report (copy enclosed as annexure-II), “the time since death is between 8 to 12 Hours at the time of post-mortem examination”. The date and time of commencement of P.M. examination was on 06.05.2024 and 11:35 am respectively. Also, the date and time of completion of P.M. examination is 06.05.2024 at 12:30 pm respectively. If one does the math, the time of death of the deceased will be between 11:35 pm of 05.05.2024 and 4:40 am of 06.05.20-24.
  • It was also found that the place at which the body of the deceased was dangling from was very high as evident in the photos (All photos enclosed as annexure-I) and the deceased whose height is 5 ft 3 inches could not have climbed that high to tie the garment which was wrapped around her neck at one end and the other end tied to the very high window grill. If one may carefully examine the place of the death , it will be evident in itself that a woman of her height could not have climbed to the place from which she was dangling unless she had extraordinary athletic skills and a reasonable upper body strength, both of which the family members denied she had the capabilities. Furthermore, we saw one photo whereby a ladder was there at the place of death. Upon enquiring whether the ladder was there when the body of the deceased was first seen, it was reported by the authorities of the Shillong Polytechnic Institute, to the kith and kin of the deceased that the ladder was used by the police to take down the body of the deceased. This makes one wonder that if well-trained policemen needs the assistance of a ladder to reach the heights were the body was dangling from, how can a 24 years old female student with the height of 5 ft 3 inches with an average built, and without any athletic capabilities or any remarkable upper body strength, could reach the same heights without the help of the ladder.
  • That Sir, certain news reports came out in the print and digital media whereby the death of Late. Diana Dimre Ch. Marak was reported as a case of suicide without proper verification or investigation. Furthermore, it is noted by clans of the deceased that in one channel, it was reported that the first person who saw the dead body was the Chowkidar and another news report suggested that first person/persons who saw the dead body was the hostel mates of the deceased. This too has cast a shadow of doubt on the minds of the family and clans’ members.
  • Within a few days of the incident the Director of Shillong Polytechnic called for a parents’ meet which also leads the clans’ members to raise their eyebrows.

1. No action regarding exhumation of the body to conduct Histopathology has been initiated.
2. Neither the family members nor the clans’ members have been intimated as to the reports of the preliminary investigations of the police despite requests for the same.
3. Despite naming of 5 (five) co-students in the FIR dated 16.05.2024, no thorough interrogation of those people has been carried out by the I.O. of the case.
4. The police officer who took down body of the deceased before the arrival of relatives, despite their request to wait for the relatives should be interrogated.
5. The person who claimed to be a faculty member of the Shillong Polytechnic Institute should be traced and thoroughly interrogated.
6. The roommate of the deceased should be interrogated and asked what rumours they were talking about, as it may have some connection to her death.
7. The warden should be thoroughly interrogated as to why he/she was absent on that fateful day.
8. The Director of Shillong Polytechnic should be interrogated as to why no responsible authority from the institution was present at the time of handing over of the dead body to the family.
9. The Director of Shillong Polytechnic has neither made a call nor paid any condolences to the family members of the deceased till date, which is unethical and leads to suspicion.
10. That reputed institutions like the Shillong Polytechnic should make use of CCTV cameras to help students overcome any kind of threats to their body and life.