Zeenews Bureau
Guwahati: Taking suo motu cognisance of a teenage girl’s alleged molestation by a group of jeering men in full public view in Guwahati, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has demanded stringent punishment for those guilty.
Talking to reporters, the chairperson of Assam State Commission for Women, Neera Barooah, said, “The Commission had taken suo motu cognisance of the incident and demands a life imprisonment for those involved in the incident.”
However, she added that Assam unit of the NCW will decide on the next course of action based on police action and report.
The shocking incident occurred on July 10 in front of a bar on the Guwahati-Shillong Road, which led to a public outcry after a video of the same was uploaded on YouTube.
The video shows around twenty men snatching, kicking, pulling, beating and stripping a class 11 student, who along with a friend had gone to a bar located on the Guwahati-Shillong road to attend a birthday party.
Following a national outcry over the incident, Assam Police arrested four out of the 12 accused identified in the video and launched a massive man hunt to nab those absconding.
The local authorities have also put a hoarding in the state capital Guwahati that shows the faces of some of those identified in that video.
Guwahati Police Commissioner, Jayanta Choudhary, has claimed that others involved in the shocking case will be arrested "in a couple of days." He said the police wants to make sure that it is able to chargesheet those guilty.
Among those arrested is a contractual employee of Assam Electronic Development Corporation Ltd, Amarjyoti Kalita. The other two arrested were Dhanonjoy Basfor and Bulbul Das. The identity of the fourth accused is yet to be ascertained.
As per reports, the victim entered into a brawl with her friend and moved out of the bar following which a group of men took advantage of the situation and passed obscene comments on her.
The police were alerted and they reached the scene immediately after the incident and rescued the girl.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has directed the state police to take tough action against those guilty.
The accused were framed under Sec 341 (wrongful restraint) 143 (unlawful assembly), 294 (obscene act), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 354 (assault or criminal force on a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty) of IPC following a written complaint filed by girl's mother.
With PTI Inputs
First Published: Friday, July 13, 2012, 12:38