Police in Mongar is on the look out for the person who posted on a social media site, Facebook, accusing them of releasing a 20-year-old man and 17-year-old boy that the villagers had caught for causing mischief in Yakpogang village.
The complainant, through an anonymous account, claimed that it has almost been a month since some people pelted stones at houses and disturbed people at midnight.
It claimed that the villagers then came together, formed groups and went patrolling in the villages.
The complainant alleged that the villagers came to know that two former students had caused the mischief. “The village head reported to police but police released them after keeping them in detention for a night.”
Kuensel learnt that the villagers of Yakpogang, Wengkhar and Jaibab are still patrolling the villages at night and they say they will not leave anyone if they find out who is causing the mischief.
A villager, who is also a driver, alleged that when the story of headhunter (Khegpa) spread, there were many complaints in the village that someone was disturbing the houses at night.
He said that on the night of May 20, about 35 men from the village went checking every household to see if there were any people suspicious of committing the crime.
“We came across two school dropouts hiding in the roof of a house,” he said. “We became suspicious after the house owner, the mother of one of the boys, refused to open the door when we knocked.”
He said they found that the two boys were hiding for more than a month and they were urinating in bottles and jerry cans. “We reported the matter to police immediately.”
But the villagers were dismayed when police released the two the next day.
“We would have known if they were the miscreants had police kept them under detention for more than a week,” a villager said.
Villagers, however, say they are not certain if the boys caused the mischief since they did not catch them red-handed.
A woman said the mischief occurred every time her husband was away. “I had to keep bows, arrows and knife near my children.”
She said they could not even go outside to relieve themselves but had to use buckets.
The 17-year-old boy, who is a class VII drop out told Kuensel that he was hiding in the house with the 20-year-old man, who is a class 12 drop out as they returned from Paro. The 20-year-old man owed him some money. “I went away from home saying I would work in Paro and I had to return since I couldn’t get a decent job.”
He said he could not go home empty handed and was hiding in his friend’s house.
Meanwhile, police said they would take necessary action as per rules for trying to create panic in the locality.
Tashi Phuntsho | Mongar