Imphal, March 5: The word “welcome”, written in bold on the overhead frame of the main door, appears incongruous for once. Young Yumlambem Sanamacha surely had no idea when he wrote the word that he was unwittingly inviting misfortune to his house.
On the night of February 12, 1998, a group of jawans of the Rashtriya Rifles entered Sanamacha’s house in Angtha village of Manipur — without even knocking — and dragged him away. He has not been seen since.
For his parents, Jugol Singh and Arubi Devi, the five-year-long wait for their missing son ended on February 23 when they performed his last rites in accordance with Vaisnavite tradition. “My son will never come back. He was tortured to death by the beasts,” Sanamacha’s mother told The Telegraph.
Arubi Devi often wakes up in the dead of night and her wails reverberate in the slopes of Angtha village.
Sanamacha was the youngest of four sons. He also had four sisters. A brilliant student, he always stood first in examinations. He used to pray daily in front of an image of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge. He was studying for the matric examination when the jawans barged into his house. He had apparently been mistaken for another boy of the same name.
Angtha has always been a sleepy village. Six years after Sanamacha’s disappearance, it seems to have become quieter. Any visitor to the tiny village, which is under Yairipok police station of Thoubal district, will feel the melancholy in the air.
Only memories remain in Sanamacha’s house. “Everybody tells me to forget my son. But how can I forget him? I cannot sleep at night; the thought of my young and tender son dying a painful death haunts me. They killed him in the manner fish are done to death,” Arubi Devi said between sobs.
The woes of the family did not end with Sanamacha’s disappearance. To pursue the case in court, his father had to sell over two acres of his land.
Jugol, a pung artiste at the Shri Shri Govindaji temple, has not worked for the past six years. His wife used to sell fish to augment the family’s income, but she hardly ventures out of the house now. “She is lost in her thoughts most of the time,” one of Sanamacha’s elder brothers said.
The only solace for the grieving mother is the presence of Sanamacha’s books, a picture of Saraswati on a pedestal, two biscuit packets and a dry coconut shell where Sanamacha used to save coins.
“Whenever I am reminded of my son, I embrace these and weep. But he will never return, I know it. I saw him in my dreams thrice. Once he was in white pants and told me from beyond the verandah of the house that he would grow as a tree at Siroy Lily Hills (in Ukhrul). Do you know where the Siroy Lily Hills are?” Arubi Devi asked.
The Gauhati High Court implicated the Rashtriya Rifles in Sanamacha’s disappearance. In accordance with the court’s directive, the Centre paid Rs 3 lakh in compensation to his family. However, the personnel responsible for his disappearance have yet to be brought to book.
It was on the basis of the court’s ruling — which effectively ruled out the possibility of Sanamacha being alive — that the last rites were performed. But not even a shred of the remains was returned to his parents.
“First they kill our son mercilessly, then they fail to give us his remains. Why are they so cruel?” Jugol asked, struggling to fight the tears.