Following the assurance given by Home Minister P Chidambaram that the perpetrators of the Guwahati molestation case would indeed be brought to justice, Union Home Secretary R K Singh on Monday spoke to Assam DGP J N Choudhury asking the state police to expedite the probe, and to look into the role of a TV journalist, who allegedly stage-managed the sordid incident.
Sources said a special team headed by a SP rank officer had been constituted to investigate the incident. “The team will be supervised by a DIG-level officer and a senior IAS officer will also assist in the investigation. The bar licence of the pub where the teenage girl was molested has been cancelled. The Centre has also suggested to the state to ensure CCTV and private security at each (and every) bar in the state,” they said.
Meanwhile, the scribe accused of complicity in the incident resigned from his job after RTI activist and Team Anna member Akhil Gogoi alleged that he had instigated the mob that outraged the victim’s modesty.
The shameful episode which took place on the night of July 9 had exposed the state’s ineffective policing system.
The inordinate delay in nabbing the culprits had led to a scathing criticism of the state police.
Although the police had identified 12 of the culprits, it managed to arrest only seven of them.