Nation

Editor who rescued Assam girl testifies

Says he was shocked at the sight and as a father, it was his moral duty to save her

PTI

Posted On Sunday, July 15, 2012 at 12:53:11 PM

Guwahati: An eyewitness to the molestation of a teenage girl in the heart of Guwahati city on Monday, that has caused a public outcry across the nation, still appeared dazed when asked to recount the incident.

The editor of a local newspaper Mukul Kalita, who stood between the hapless girl and the mob and later handed her over to the police that night, said on Saturday that a mob of nearly 40 people had tried to gang-rape the girl that night.

Activists from Assam during a rally against a teenage girl’s molestation by a group of youths, in Guwahati on Saturday PTI

“I was returning home from office at 9.45 pm when I saw a girl running and a mob of nearly 40 chasing her,” said Kalita, who had arrived at the scene about 15 minutes after the incident and five minutes before the police reached there.

“The girl was shouting ‘bachao, bachao’ (save me),” said Kalita. “When the girl saw me, she fell at my feet and pleaded ‘uncle save me from them’. Some people from the crowd shouted at me saying ‘leave her...’ She was almost half naked and her clothes torn off. It was a shocking sight.”

A poster of some of the accused men

Kalita said that it appeared like gang rape. “I am a father and a conscious citizen and it was my moral duty to rescue the girl from the mob,” he said.

Some members of the crowd even attacked the girl inside the police van, into which she was escorted by the cops and two armed guards who reached the spot to rescue her.

“Even as the policemen tried their best to protect the girl, the mob kept up its attempts to attack her till the vehicle drove off,” said Kalita.

Deadline set for cops to act

Admitting that there had been lapses on the part of the police in dealing with the molestation case of a teenage girl in the city, chief minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi last night gave them a deadline of 48 hours to arrest the youths involved.

The police have been directed to act since the youths responsible for the incident have been identified in a video filmed by a local news channel, the chief minister told a high-level meeting with senior officials last night.

Noting that there were lapses on the part of the police, he said, “I’ve sought an explanation why the others have not been arrested so far.”

The police have so far arrested four persons while 12 others have been identified in connection with the incident.

Gogoi regretted that an impression was being created, particularly in the national media, that he has not condemned the incident and adequate steps have not been taken to arrest those responsible.

“Let me make it clear that I have not only condemned it as very unfortunate incident on the very day the footage was telecast by the local channel, but I have directed the police to take immediate action," the chief minister said.

A one-member panel set up to probe the incident will submit a its report in 15 days.

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