Meghalaya: East Khasi Hills Police Arrest Accused in Shillong Schoolgirl Assault Case

Correspondent

SHILLONG: In a major breakthrough following public outrage over a viral video depicting the sexual assault of a schoolgirl in Shillong, the East Khasi Hills Police have arrested the accused, 24-year-old Himan Gogoi of Jorhat, Assam, in a swift interstate operation conducted within just three days of launching the investigation. East Khasi Hills Superintendent of Police Vivek Syiem informed, “On May 24, 2025, we received information from various quarters of a video footage which had gone viral on social media whereby it was seen that a schoolgirl had been sexually assaulted by a masked person who had lifted the apparel of the victim and taken photographs through his mobile phone.” The alarming footage, widely circulated online, shocked the community and prompted immediate action.

In response, a special investigative team was constituted on May 26, led by Additional Superintendent of Police (Operations), East Khasi Hills, Ivan B. Diengdoh, MPS, with the objective of identifying and apprehending the perpetrator. Following swift forensic and field investigations, the place of occurrence was identified as the narrow lane leading to the YWCA at Umsohsun, Shillong, and the incident was determined to have taken place on May 23, 2025, at approximately 6:35 am.

The victim was identified and examined, after which an FIR was filed under Lumdiengjri PS Case number 55(05)2025, U/s 76/79 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), read with Sections 11 and 12 of the POCSO Act. Meanwhile, police also discovered a second case of similar nature involving another schoolgirl, which had occurred on May 19, 2025, between 7:15 and 7:30 am near Dreamland, Police Bazar. That case was registered at Sadar Police Station as Case number 140(5)2025 under Sections 7/8 of the POCSO Act. Both incidents were classified as Special Report cases due to their sensitivity and seriousness.

Sustained efforts by the special team led to the identification of the accused as Himan Gogoi. Acting swiftly on this lead, a police team under WPSI Lavinia Kongwang departed for Jorhat on May 28. In the early hours of the next morning, a joint raid was conducted in collaboration with Lahdoigarh OutPost under Jorhat Police. “The special team, in a matter of 3 days, identified the accused namely Himan Gogoi (24 years) of Jorhat, Assam and a team under WPSI Lavinia Kongwang left for Jorhat on May 28, 2025 and in the morning, a joint raid with Lahdoigarh OutPost of Jorhat was conducted and the accused Shri Himan Gogoi was apprehended from his relative’s house in Bamkukurachua village, under Teok P.S, Jorhat,” SP Syiem stated.

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