TURA: Dalu police in West Garo Hills have arrested a man who stands accused of raping his 13-year-old daughter on several occasions, according to a delayed report.
The arrest was made possible after a team from the district child protection office visited the village of the accused, Thibapara, this week and met the victim. The teenage victim reportedly narrated her ordeal wherein the accused father had forced himself on her several times in the past.
The victim is said to have become pregnant from the sexual assault and the clan (Mahari) allegedly tried to contain the incident from going public by attempting a compromise before the administration moved in and arrested the accused father.
Police was called in and on October 19, the accused father, identified as Rasti A Sangma, was placed under arrest while the girl was taken for medical examination and counselling under the care of the district child protection officer. She has since been moved out of the village to a home on the directions of the child welfare committee.
Though reports of sexual assaults are being brought to the fore in recent times from many places in both Khasi and Garo Hills, cases of incest are only now beginning to surface. Just recently, another parent was arrested in North Garo Hills for forcing himself on his minor daughter and his step-daughter as well.
