By Lamphrang Nongspung
SHILLONG: The seven-year-old schoolgirl, who was brutally raped by two unidentified persons at a jungle in Malki, is an orphan.
The minor, who is undergoing treatment at NEIGRIHMS, is still traumatized by the incident.
This scribe, who visited NEIGRIHMS on Monday to enquire about the progress of the girl, learnt that she had been adopted by a family after her mother and father expired when she was only two years old.
“We have taken her custody after both her parents expired,” the woman who adopted the girl told this scribe at NEIGRHIMS on Monday.
Informing that she considers the child as her own granddaughter, the woman said that she had sent her to Shillong along with her two daughters, grandson and her youngest granddaughter for studies.
“All of them are staying on their own at Malki. The eldest of the five children is my 12-year-old daughter who is taking care of all of them,” the woman said.
Narrating the horrific incident, the woman said that the young girl was forcefully abducted by two unidentified persons while she was returning alone from school after her examination on May 8.
“It is strange that no one witnessed that the unidentified miscreants forcibly taking the girl from the roadside by closing her mouth,” she said, adding that the miscreants then took her to a nearby jungle at Malki where they brutally raped her.
“After committing the crime the unidentified miscreants again dropped her in the same place from where they had picked her,” the adopted grandmother of the girl said with tears in her eyes.
“When she returned home we did not know that such a thing had happened to her. She only complained of a severe stomach pain,” the woman said, adding that after she kept on complaining they took her to Bethany Hospital for check up in the evening.
“The doctor at the Bethany Hospital prescribed some medicines and we came back home. Despite taking the medicines, there was no improvement as the girl continued to complain of severe pain throughout the night,” she said.
“We took her again to Bethany Hospital the next day. After a thorough check up the doctors realized that the girl had been raped. The doctors informed us about this and suggested that we should inform the police,” she said.
Initially they were hesitant to inform the police, but the doctors persisted that the case should be reported, she said, while adding that the doctors themselves informed the police about the case.
“After a while women police personnel came to the hospital and told us that the girl should be shifted to NEIGRIHMS, a Government hospital,” the woman said.
“We shifted her to NEIGRIHMS at around 2 am in the morning on May 10,” the woman informed.
The grandmother of the victim also claimed that the girl was able to see the faces of the miscreants since they did not close her eyes when they dragged her to the jungle.
“She has told us that she would be able to identify the two people if she sees them,” the woman said.
Meanwhile, the Seng Samla Malki would be holding a peace rally in the locality on May 16 to condemn and protest against the gruesome rape of the seven-year-old child.
The Seng Samla will take out a peace rally to various parts of the locality from 8 am till 12 noon.
The Dorbar Shnong and the Seng Samla have also decided to shut down the locality till the peace rally is over.
The Seng Samla has urged all residents of the locality to participate in the rally.
“We would take a pledge that this is the last time such a thing takes place in our locality,” the Seng Samla said, while urging the police to nab the culprits at the earliest.