41 rape cases registered in 2 yrs
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Meghalaya may be famed throughout the world for practicing the matrilineal system, but women in the State are a harassed lot, if official records are anything to go by.
As per official statistics altogether 41 minor girls up to the age of 17 have been raped in East Khasi Hills district over the past two years. Out of the 41 registered cases of rape, 25 minor girls were reported to have been raped in 2010 in East Khasi Hills district while 16 rape cases have been reported from the district till date this year.
Among all the cases of rape reported in the district in 2010, the most heinous one was the rape of a one-year-old minor.
What is even more alarming is the fact that on most of the occasions the rape is perpetrated by a close relative or in-house member of the victim’s family.
The latest example of the rape perpetrated by an in-house member of the victim’s family was the alleged rape of a nine-year-old girl by her own stepfather Augustine Umdor, 55, who allegedly raped his stepdaughter on August 17 and 20.
According to Additional Superintendent of Police (Crime) Vivek Syiem, a minimum punishment for a rape accused is seven years while adding that the police was giving foremost preference to the rape cases in the city.
Claiming that access to pornography is one of the major reasons for the rise in rape cases in the district, the senior police official added that police were continuously carrying out raids in different parts of the city to seize pornography materials like CDs etc.
One of the other reasons for the rise in rape cases in the city is alcohol consumption as many of the rapes are committed under the influence of liquor, the police official added.
“We ensure that we are tight in our investigation into the rape cases and we always try to build strong evidences against the accused,” he added while speaking to reporters here on the issue which has been making headlines over the past few years.
Syiem, meanwhile, lauded the efforts of the rape victims and their family members for approaching law enforcing agencies to report rape cases even if the accused was one of their own family members.