5 cops arrested for 'assault, striping' lady

From A Correspondent

Tura, July 31: Five policemen were on Monday arrested for their alleged involvement in harassing a family on early Saturday at Dekachang in Resubelpara, North Garo Hills district. The policemen had even stripped one lady during the incident.

On Saturday the policemen were arrested and latter granted bail. However, they were arrested again today.

The policemen were allegedly drunk and had barged into the victim’s residence and assaulted all the elderly members around 1:30 am. The policemen had reportedly even broken a beer bottle on the head of one of the victims.

An FIR against the attackers was filed on Sunday morning at Resubelpara police station.

“We have arrested all the accused policemen and investigating the matter,” said Dalton Marak, North Garo Hills district Superintendent of Police.

Locals said three cops were involved in brutal assault on the victim identified as Tezeng Marak, his girlfriend and his younger sister.

“They entered my room and kicked me and my girlfriend and began to beat me up mercilessly. They even hit us with knives. They pointed their guns at me and threatened to shoot me,” Marak said in his FIR.

Following the incident a huge commotion followed and people from the neighbourhood gathered at the scene. “They had planned to murder us and cut our bodies to pieces. They even hit my sister and damaged my property. Worse thing was that they stripped my girlfriend and took videos threatening to post them on social media,” Marak alleged in the FIR.

The victim said that the policemen had made off with Rs 38,000 in cash and his wallet with an ATM card and Rs 6,000.

The five policemen allegedly involved in the incident were immediately arrested after the incident, though they were let off on a bail bond the same evening despite the grievousness of the crime.

The five police personnel reportedly involved in the incident were, however, arrested again on Monday after the clan members filed a supplementary FIR in the case as the victim and his girl friend’s injuries have forced Tezeng to go to Guwahati for medical treatment while his girlfriend is still recuperating at Goalpara in Assam.

Interestingly, the medical report of the victims stated that they had only received minor injuries whereas the victim’s sister who was hit on the head with a beer bottle was allegedly not even given medical care.

Social activist Jaynie N Sangma, who reached the place on Monday after receiving complaints of police iction, said that the entire incident was shocking.

“How can they be let off even after committing such serious crimes? This is sending a very wrong message to the people and the people behind letting them off need to be questioned,” he demanded.