Sohra has a new identity now in the national media, which has given the moniker ‘Osara Hills’ to the popular tourist destination in Meghalaya.
Many reports on the Indore couple case in the national media are terming Sohra as Osara Hills for some reason. Surprisingly, a popular destination such as Sohra will be unknown to media houses, which did not make an effort to even cross-check the name. While a typo could be expected in the first report on the crime case, the mistake continued.
Such ignorance, especially by recognised media houses in the country, is unpardonable.
“They (the national media) do not know the place, which has led to such misinformation and misreporting. There is no such place called Osara,” said Alan West Kharkongor, the director of the Meghalaya Tourism Development Corporation.
When the basic fact-checking is lacking, then it becomes difficult to even believe what the report is saying. The North East is a lesser-known terrain for many people in the country. However, Meghalaya is a popular tourist destination with Cherrapunji, or Sohra, as the cherry on the cake.
While Cherrapunji is the popular name of the place, Sohra is the local name and is widely used. In 2007, the Meghalaya government renamed Cherrapunji as Sohra. Both names are used now.
One mistake in a report has flooded the internet with the new moniker.
‘Crime-prone’ hills?
Besides earning a new moniker, Sohra has also earned a bad name after the incident. The national media has called the place ‘crime-prone’. Is the place crime-prone? Do the families of Raja and Sonam Raghuvanshi feel the same about the place?
When Meghalaya Monitor spoke to Govind Raghuvanshi, Sonam’s brother, he pointed out that Raja’s body was found in a dump of garbage in the gorge. “If this is an isolated area, then where has the garbage come from? And how would one, other than a local, know that the body should be dumped in the garbage,” he questioned.
However, he added that the family had no intention in a blame game and all it wanted was their sister back.
On further investigation, Meghalaya Monitor found that in February 2023, body parts were found at Weisawdong. The murder, of course, was committed in Guwahati. None of the media houses in Meghalaya reported this incident. When asked, the Meghalaya Police confirmed the incident.
So, whoever dumped Raja’s body probably knew that it was an isolated place and would not be difficult to dispose of the body. Does this make Weisawdong or Sohra a crime-prone area?
The phrase crime-prone is strong and should only be used judiciously. Two instances of crime do not make a place eligible for the title. Nonetheless, authorities and the Tourism Department should have been cautious after the first incident. Why weren’t measures taken to safeguard the place for the sake of secure tourism?
There is an information gap, no doubt, and the state police should address that. The police should provide daily updates on the case to the local as well as the national media. So far, there is no information about the postmortem. Such vagueness will only lead to unnecessary speculations and misreporting, and further tarnish the state’s image.
