Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday said the three months imprisonment given to an Army man by a court here for molesting a teenager in Sibsagar district was “insensitive” and he would take up the matter with the Defence Ministry for its review.
“The Army court has been insensitive about the seriousness of the crime and has taken a lenient view of the matter,” Gogoi said in a statement here.
“Imprisonment for only three months is far less than the heinous crime committed by the Army man. The Army court should have meted out a deterrent punishment to the accused, instead it took a lenient view of such a grave crime which amounts to insensitivity,” he said.
The chief minister said he would take up the matter with the Defence ministry so that the victim gets proper justice.
Lance Naik Anil Kumar Upadhaya was tried by an Army court after he was accused of molesting a teenager and sentenced to three months imprisonment.
Upadhaya was also demoted to a lower post of sepoy from his current post of lance naik and this was informed to Sibsagar Deputy Commissioner J N Lahkar in a communication by the Army, official sources said on Tuesday.
The teenager was molested by the lance naik, who was on patrol near a forest in Dolopa area of the district on July 13 last year where she had gone to collect firewood.
She raised an alarm following which villagers rushed to the spot and saved her.
The incident led to wide protests in Assam with people demanding that the accused be handed over to police but the Army maintained that he would be first tried by its court. (PTI)