A 24-year old man was arrested on Friday in connection with the alleged gangrape of a 14-year-old girl in Assam’s Nagaon district when she was returning home from tuition classes on Thursday evening. The incident triggered protests and outrage in the state, and evoked a sharp reaction from Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
According to Nagaon Superintendent of Police Swapnaneel Deka, the minor was found in a semi-conscious state by the side of the road at around 6:30 pm on Thursday, roughly 1.5 kilometres from her home. He said that she had been found by two boys from her village, who alerted her family and locals.
Following this, she was taken to the Nagaon Medical College and Hospital for medical treatment and examination. SP Deka said that in her police statement on Thursday night, she said that she had been raped by the three men.
On Friday, Nagaon police arrested Tafazul Islam and identified him as one of the three accused.
“He is an unemployed youth from another village and is not known to the victim. She would travel to a village around 6 kilometres from her own, for which she would cross the accused’s village. The other two accused are absconding and the investigation to locate them is ongoing,” said SP Deka.
The incident set off massive protests in her town, with hundreds of locals demanding punishment for the perpetrators. The town was at a standstill through the day, with all establishments closed.
Chief Minister Sarma, who is in the Barak Valley to attend various government and political programmes, called the incident a “crime against humanity.” While speaking to reporters in Hailakandi about the incident, he said, “I always say that in places like Lower Assam, Central Assam and Barak, our indigenous people live in fear. The more the people of Assam understand these things, the better it will be for us. The process of law will be done but the more sensitive we become of how our people live in these places, in what kind of difficulties. The more sensitive we become, the more secure our people will become… This is not the first time that such incidents are happening in Dhing. All the places in which indigenous people are in the minority, in those areas, our people are always living with troubles,” he said.
Assam Director General of Police G P Singh and Cabinet Minister Pijush Hazarika visited the area on Friday. Singh said that he has issued instructions for security plans in areas where people of different communities live together, specifically mentioning belts of Nagaon, where Bengali Muslims are in majority.
“I visited the crime scene and after that, I went to the girl’s home too and spoke to her family members. I have spoken to the police officials too… So far they have brought one suspect against whom we have a lot of evidence, and instructions have been issued for further corroboration… I think the investigation is moving in the correct direction and we will get all the details soon. I have also spoken to the IG (Central Range), SP Nagaon and the Nagaon DC that in the Samaguri, Rupohihat, Juria, Dhing and Lahorighat region, in all the areas where we have inter-community interface and people of different communities live together, they should do a geo-tagging of the village, so that we can then make an area security plan so that such incidents don’t happen again. Apart from that, in the evenings and at night, we have decided to have strong patrolling, especially where girls’ schools and tuition centres are,” he said.
Hazarika called the incident “an attack on the indigenous” during his visit to Dhing on Friday, while Dhing MLA Aminul Islam from the AIUDF said the incident should not be given a communal colour. “Everybody should stand against this act. Questions of religion, indigenous should not come here… No one can create a communal environment here and no one has been able to so far. Every single person in Dhing is standing against this crime… A criminal is a criminal. There should be strict punishment against whoever the perpetrator is,” he said.
Sibamoni Bora, the Congress MLA from Batadrava constituency, which also falls in Nagaon, attacked Sarma, who is also the Home Minister. “He should give it (the portfolio) to someone else so that our women can be safe and the law and order situation can be improved,” she said.