New Delhi, Nov 18 : Four people, including two juveniles, have been arrested on charges of gang rape and sexual assault of a 30-year-old woman from Assam, police said Sunday.
The woman and her male friend were beaten up by the four accused, who later gang raped her and inserted a stick in her private parts.
The incident took place in west Delhi's Mundka area Nov 9.
Police said all the four accused were neighbours of the woman.
Two of them have been sent to judicial custody, and the two juveniles sent to a correctional home.
The woman, who received severe injuries in her private parts, was discharged from a hospital Saturday.
In a statement to police, the woman alleged that the four accused barged into her house after consuming alcohol and attacked her and her male friend.
"She claimed that the accused gang raped her and one of them, Shahjahan, inserted a stick in her private parts," a police official said.
Police said Shahjahan reportedly wanted to marry the woman but she turned down his proposal.
Shahjahan, who also hails from Assam, did not like her friendship with her male friend from Uttar Pradesh, and threatened her to break her relationship with him, she said.
The woman alleged that Shahjahan was angry with her and he came to her house Nov 8 with his friends to take revenge.
"The male friend belongs to Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. They worked in a shoe factory in Mundka. He wanted to marry her. For some time, he was bearing all her expenses and stopped her from working in the factory," the police official said.
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
An investigation into the seizure of a huge cache of sophisticated arms and ammunition from the Assam-Bengal border has revealed the alleged involvement of a section of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) cadres in Darjeeling, who may have tried to smuggle in the consignment from Dimapur.
Sanjay Rai Thulung, a Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) sabhasad from Takdah-Glenburn was found absconding when police raided his house. A hunt is now on to nab him. Meanwhile, investigators said Umesh Karmi, who was arrested with the consignment, worked as the driver of GJM chief Bimal Gurung.
A couple of years ago, he started working as a transporter in the Assam-Bengal region. It is believed that Karmi, who is being questioned, stayed in touch with GJM leaders.
Besides Karmi (29), a resident of Lankapara in Jalpaiguri, the police also arrested Ganesh Chhetri (53), a resident of Assam’s Baksha district on Saturday. The two were allegedly carrying the consignment in a Tata Safari with a West Bengal registration number. A team of Bengal police questioned the duo, while Darjeeling district police is likely to plead for their custody next.
According to a police report submitted to the state Home department, the arrested persons revealed that they had been asked to carry the consignment to Darjeeling. It is learnt that some leaders in Darjeeling were trying to build an armed group, ‘Gorkha Liberation Army’. The report also said the GJM has split and one of the two groups is preparing for a fresh armed struggle.
Intelligence reports also hinted members of GJM youth wing, Gorkha Yuva Morcha, are disillusioned with the leadership and have allegedly talked about a fresh movement for Gorkhaland.
GJM forms panel to probe charge
Responding to the controversy over the alleged role of GJM cadres in smuggling of sophisticated arms into Darjeeling, GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said on Wednesday that the party has formed a five-member committee to probe into the involvement of GTA sabhasad Sanjay Rai Thulung and others in this episode.
“We believe in democracy and we will not support any form of violence. We have formed a five-member internal probe committee to look into the matter,” said Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the GJM. At an emergency central committee meeting of the GJM, the GJM leadership acknowledged a split in the party, particularly with a sizable section of the Yuva Morcha leaders moving away from the party.
Guwahati, Nov 13 : Nine people were arrested Wednesday in Assam's Sivasagar district for torturing a woman and branding her a 'witch', police said.
The incident took place Tuesday evening in Gorbhanga village.
Police said an elderly woman was singled out as a witch and the nine people incited others to torture her.
The woman was rescued by police after being informed by villagers and later admitted to a hospital.
Her relatives filed a police complaint, based on which the nine, including seven women, were arrested, police said.
Assam has recently seen a spike in cases related to 'witch-hunting'.
A veteran athlete in Karbi Anglong district was tortured last month, while three other women were tortured in Tinsukia district.
Over 140 people have been killed in the name of witch-hunting while several hundreds have been tortured in various places since 2002.
Although about 500 people have been arrested, investigation into many cases is pending due to shortage of police officials with detailed knowledge of the issue.
The practice of witch-hunting is common among some communities in Assam. Although various steps have been taken both by government agencies and NGOs to remove the social stigma, very little success has been achieved.
Assam Police had launched 'Project Prahari' for participatory development and people friendly policing to fight social maladies and deprivation. Under the project, police have launched an awareness drive against 'witch-hunting' in remote areas where tribal and Adivasi communities are in the majority.
Kalyan Barooah
NEW DELHI, Nov 12 – Claiming that a mischievous propaganda is being carried out to show that the interest of scheduled tribes (ST) would suffer, Assam’s legislators have suggested that 13 per cent un-allotted quota in Assam could be allotted to the new communities, which are demanding ST status.
By seeking to address one of the key areas of concern expressed by the tribal communities, an all-party delegation of the Assam Assembly has sought to break the logjam over the issue of inclusion of six communities in the ST list.
A mischievous propaganda is being carried out to show that the interest of existing STs would suffer in case the new communities are included in the ST list, the memorandum, submitted by the all-party delegation to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Jual Oram, said.
“In Assam, we have only utilised 37 per cent of the total 50 per cent reserved by the Supreme Court. Out of this, 10 per cent is reserved for the existing plains tribes according to their population. There is still 13 per cent not allotted to anybody. This can easily be allotted to the new communities and this can be increased by safely deducting a part of the quota reserved for the OBC,” the memorandum said.
The Assam Assembly delegation led by Speaker Pranab Gogoi has relied heavily on the report and recommendation of the Parliamentary Select Committee appointed in July 1996. The Select Committee had recommended that Chutia, Garo, Tai Ahom, Matak, Moran, Hajong and Singhpo communities might be included in the list of ST.
While the views of the Registrar General of India (RGI) and other agencies are based on record, the finding of the Committee is based on personal knowledge and is definitely a class higher, the Assam Assembly memorandum said.
The Government of India took no decision on the Select Committee recommendation for about 17 years. Then in the name of streamlining the entry of new communities a ‘Task Force ‘has been now set up by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs on February 3 to create new criteria to further delay the entry of these communities, even after their claim has been upheld by the Select Committee, it said.
The delegation would like to point out that views of the RGI are the views of the Census Commissioner of India and cannot keep changing with the change of incumbent. The best and the correct views must be placed before the Parliament Committee.
As the police is yet to question Mr Reddy they have not revealed why he committed this act. However, Assam police suspects that Reddy, who failed to meet the deadline on his current project, wanted to get some more time from the National Highway Authority of India.
The cops also suspect that he has debts and wanted to escape lenders. The Assam police will initiate action against Mr Reddy and Bhargav for lodging a false complaint.
Dima Hasao SP Dr G.V. Siva Prasad said the police tracked him at the Patna railway station on Monday and he has agreed to come back.
Assam police suspects two reasons for Mr Reddy faking the kidnap. “He suffered losses in his previous project in Kashmir and has huge debts. Now, he is afraid that he cannot meet the deadline of his current project. NHAI will extend deadline only if there is a law and order issue, otherwise they will impose penalties. He planned the kidnap to get extension from NHAI,” the Assam police said.
He planned the drama as there were previous incidents of Telugus getting kidnapped. “We had a suspicion as the complainant Bhargav’s version and the modus operandi of militant groups did not match. We searched the area soon after he reported to us. We could not find anything. Mr Reddy’s behaviour was suspicious as he rejected our security,” said a senior official.
Sources from Assam police said that Mr Reddy had made a call to his family in Hyderabad on Sunday and revealed that he was not kidnapped. The Assam police, who tracked his mobile phone in Bihar, then got in touch with him.
Meanwhile, the complainant Mr Bhargav, has gone absconding after the FIR was issued. Police are now trying to track him.
