Following the “rape” of a 13-year-old girl and molestation of two women of a family, an umbrella organisation of various community groups has planned a public agitation in Karbi Anglong district, 200 km west of Assam’s capital Guwahati.

Local people alleged that on April 6, Army jawans raped the girl and molested the girl’s mother and grandmother when they tried to rescue the teenager.

The People’s Coordination Committee (PCC) is expected to block the railway line between Dimapur in Nagaland and Guwahati on Tuesday. In the past two days, massive protests have erupted across the hilly district. The district administration and the Army set up committees for inquiries into the incident.

Tens of thousands of Karbis and members of other communities of Karbi Anglong have been protesting for nearly a week, demanding the arrest of the Army personnel.

The incident took place in Sarthe Tokbi, a village under the Dokmoka police station, 80 km south-west of Diphu, the Karbi Anglong district headquarters. A village-level worker of the ICDS was “roughed up” by the soldiers, while another three-year-old infant received several blows from a rifle butt. The medical and forensic test reports are awaited.

While the communities observed a 24-hour bandh in Karbi Anglong on Saturday, a day before students, youths, various community groups and civil society organisations staged a protest outside the District Commissioner’s office, the local people told The Hindu .

“Firing added

fuel to fire”

“We were shocked when the police opened fire on Friday’s demonstration, when ordinary citizens and schoolchildren were protesting against the rape of the minor and molestation of women. At least eight persons were injured, and this added fuel to the fire,” said Pankaj Teron, an official of the Karbi Human Rights Watch, a representative body of the PCC.