Pynpoihun Majaw

RTI Activist

Meghalaya

HRDA has issued an urgent appeal to the National Human Rights Commission of India on March 30 regarding the murder of Mr. Pynpoihun Majaw in Khliehriat in East Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya, on March 19, 2018, by unidentified persons. Mr. Majaw is a Jaintia youth leader and the president of Jaintia Youth Federation (JYF).

On March 19, 2018, Mr. Majaw was found dead on the Rymbai Road near Khliehriat bordering Bangladesh. The area in which his body was found in the prime mining zone of Meghalaya.

According to media reports, it is suspected that he was murdered on the evening of March 18, 2018, hit by a wrench pipe on the back of his head. He was last seen in the Deputy Commissioner’s office at 3 pm on March 18, 2018.

The Jaintia Hills region of Meghalaya is rich in limestone and there are many cement companies operating in the region. It is alleged that some of the companies have been mining limestone without permission. Mr. Majaw’s RTI queries have revealed the illegal mining done by some of these companies and also about revenue loss to JHADC because of illegal mining.

The RTI queries revealed that the cement companies have not even obtained the mandatory ‘Prospecting License’ (PL) or ‘Mining Lease’ (ML) which is necessary for undertaking any mining activities in the region. There are strong apprehensions that the murder of Mr. Majaw is due to his work which exposed the irregularities of the cement factories and the local district council.