Alleged custodial rape of two minor sisters at Ampati Police Station
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: In an incident that raises many a question mark on the readiness of the authorities to deal with crime against women and minors, the officer in charge of Ampati police station, Sub Inspector Narul Islam, who was picked up and suspended on Saturday for allegedly raping two minor sisters in the police station, escaped from police custody after he was brought to Tura in the early hours of Sunday.
The incident of rape at Amapti, the home constituency of Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma, has shocked the residents and the police hierarchy.
An annoyed Chief Minister directed the police to trace out the culprit at the earliest.
Initially, police said that the accused was arrested, but an official with the South West Garo Hills District administration said that the cop was only suspended. “The officer in charge was picked up after he was suspended and the police took him to Tura for further interrogation before effecting arrest”, the official added. A police official said that it was to prevent any law and order situation at Amapti that the police official, who was picked up, was taken to the police quarters at Tura, but he escaped at around 5.30 am on Sunday.
Second in charge Amapti PS suspended
The escape of the accused has perplexed the police and questions are being raised on whether the policemen, who escorted the police official to Tura, have any role in facilitating the same.
The second in charge of Ampati police station, Sub Inspector Pyniarborlang Lynshiang, who was guarding Islam in Tura, has also been suspended.
While the South West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Ram Singh has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident, IG Western Range, H Nongpluh, who is camping in Ampati, is conducting another inquiry on how the accused policeman escaped.
Police have also sounded alert in all police stations in the Northeast so that the accused can be arrested.
It was on March 13 that the police team led by the officer in charge of Ampati police station picked up the minor girls who are sisters when they were sitting in a park at Ampati along with some boys.
After they were brought to the police station, the officer in charge took the girls into his chamber and raped them, police said.
It was during the Assembly elections, that the officer was posted at Ampati.
According to police, on March 31, when the elder sister was alone at home, the accused entered her room and raped her again.
After committing the crime, the police official threatened both the sisters at gun point not to reveal the matter to anyone. The police officer also threatened the siblings, who are from a poor family, that he will implicate them in false cases.
However, the father of the victims filed an FIR with the police on Saturday and subsequently the sub inspector was suspended in the evening.
The South West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Ram Singh met the victims and the family members on Sunday and provided Rs 50,000 as interim compensation.
Besides rehabilitation and counselling, the Deputy Commissioner also decided to arrange schooling for the victims as they had dropped out of schools in
the past.
The elder girl who is around 17 stopped studying after class 8 and the 14-year-old younger sister studied only up to class 2 as they could not carry on with their studies since the parents were poor.
The Deputy Commissioner assured the family that the district administration will take steps to admit them in a school in Ampati besides providing special coaching.
The police had come under fire recently for promoting another rape accused police man, SN Roy who was involved in the rape of a minor girl in Shillong. The girl died mysteriously last year.