At a time when India is caught in the whirlpool of #MeeToo movement, a Republic TV journalist has now been accused of sexually assaulting a Guwahati based journalist.
A case (no 3637/18) has been registered against Aniruddha Bhakat Chutia, the Assam correspondent of Republic TV, at the Dispur Police Station in Guwahati for outraging the modesty of the woman journalist on December 1.
The case has been registered under sections 341 (Punishment for wrongful restraint), 392 (Punishment for robbery), 354 (Assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty, 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of IPC.
The case has come as a major embarrassment for Republic TV chief Arnab Goswami, who also hails from Guwahati.
When contacted, Aniruddha Bhakat Chutia refused to comment on the complaint filed against him. “I don’t want to comment on the issue. Why are you asking me this? Are you going to write about it?” he told Northeast Now on phone.
Aniruddha Bhakat Chutia was detained for a night and was later set free under section 41 (a) of the CRPc. He will have to come to meet the investigating officer as and when required.
Dispur police, however, have remained tight-lipped about the case. When Northeast Now reporter went to Dispur police station seeking details of the incident, the investigating officer of the case refused to provide information citing pressure from the top brass of the department.
The victim alleged that the Dispur police allegedly misled her and refused to register rape case even though prima-facie it was a case of rape and kidnapping.
“Accused Anirudha Bhakat forcefully took me from Six Mile area of the city to a house at Jayanagar while I was on my way to my residence from office. In the house, which was locked from outside, he first physically attacked me and when I tried to stop him, he sexually assaulted me,” the victim told Northeast Now.
“Police pressurized me to drop these two charges against the accused journalist,” she said. Interestingly, Dispur police have not recorded the statement of the victim till today.
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