Inquiry ordered into Assam molestation case

After four days of shameful molestation of a teenage girl at busy Guwahati-Shillong (GS) Road by some miscreants on July 9, the Assam Government has finally ordered an inquiry into the incident. The inquiry will be headed by Additional Chief Secretary, Amili Choudhury.
 
Admitting that there have been lapses on the part of police in dealing with the molestation case of a girl here, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has given them a deadline of 48 hours to arrest youths involved in the incident.

A one-member commission under Additional Chief Secretary Emily Choudhury has been constituted which will investigate and submit a report within 15 days.
 
As per reports, the girl had gone to a bar along with her friends at Guwahati-Shillong road for a birthday celebration on July 10. However, she entered into a brawl with her friend, following which a group of men took advantage of the situation and molested her.
 
Some electronic media persons took the footage of the incident before the police came to rescue her.
 
Police has already identified 12 miscreants and arrested four of them. RTI activist and Krikhak Mukti Sangram Samiti general secretary Akhil Gogoi alleged that the main culprit Amarjoyoti Kalita is a close friend of Assam Pradesh Yuva Congress president Piyush Hazarika. Kalita an employee of government enterprise Amtron, is still absconding.
 
Talking to media, the teenage girl Mousumi said that she would have committed suicide if she would not have got moral support from her family members and public in general. She appealed to the Prime Minister and Chief Minister of Assam to take measures so that girls could feel secure.
 
Talking to TSI, Abhijit Sarma, President of  Assam Public Works, a social organization said that the girl did something wrong but the way she was molested in public place was the worst. “On the other hand, police administration totally failed to tackle the situation. It is shameful that police took 30-35 minutes to come to the spot.”
 
He appealed to the parents that they should be conscious about the activities of their children as our society cannot leave the traditional values in the name of modernisation.
 
Reacting to Assam DGP Jayanta Narayan Choudhury’s irresponsible comment that police is not like ATM card that they would rush to the scene if anyone calls them, Union Home minister P Chidambaram in Chandigarh said, "The remark is in poor taste. There is no such thing as rape capital. Every incident of molestation is condemnable.”

Posters and hoardings with the photographs of the culprits have been put up in different parts of the city by NGO Assam Public Works and the police.

The BJP has condemned the incident and expressed hope that the state government would take strong action to bring the culprits to books. Meanwhile, a four-member team of National Commission for Women is arriving Guwahati Saturday to investigate the incident.

With inputs from Agencies