More than 10 days after a case was registered at the Jorhat police station here, the police are yet to arrest Bittu Gan, an accused in an alleged rape committed on October 2.
The Satra Mukti Sangram Samiti (SMSS), West Jorhat branch and Chah Sramik Mukti Sangram Samiti have condemned the police inaction and threatened to resort to an agitation if the accused is not arrested soon.
Shyamal Nayak Saikia, member of SMSS said that as the accused was a secretary of a primary branch of Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association, the police were not taking action as he wielded some clout in the Kamarbandha tea estate area in Titabar subdivision where he committed the crime.
Saikia said that the girl and her father who resided in Gotonga tea estate had first filed the complaint at the Rowriah police outpost on October 3, but the officer in charge asked them to file a written complaint, following which they filed the complaint at Jorhat police station and a case (number 2406/18) under sections 376 and 426 of the IPC was registered.
The police, however, seem to be dillydallying over the issue. The Rowriah officer in charge told this correspondent that it was today that he had transferred the case to Titabar police station as the jurisdiction of the crime and the residence of the accused fall under Jalukoni police outpost under Titabar police station.
On being asked as to why it took him so long to transfer the case, he said that preliminary investigation was being conducted and that the girl had been taken for a medical examination and her statement was recorded in court.
According to her complaint, the girl had gone a certain distance from her house to escort her cousin back from a dance school but as the girl did not appear, she returned alone.
She was allegedly accosted by Bittu Gan who forcibly dragged her behind the Bapuji High School and raped her. When some people carrying torches passed nearby, the accused fled.
The revealed the incident to her parents after reaching home, who in turn told her that they would approach the police the next day.
When people of the area came to know about this they took the girl and her father to file a complaint at Rowriah outpost.
Saikia said that it was condemnable that an ATTSA office bearer had committed such a heinous act and that there were allegations that the police were shielding him.
“Almost 12 days have elapsed and he is yet to be arrested. Why did it take so much time for the Rowriah police to transfer the case to Titabar if it did not fall within his jurisdiction in the first place, ” he said.
Saikia said that women of Gotonga and Kamarbandha would soon take to the streets and they had the support of SMSS, CSMSS and other student organizations.
