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RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh police has begun a probe into complaints that two para-military Central Reserve Police Force ( CRPF ) personnel had allegedly molested tribal schoolgirls near Palnar in Dantewada district in tribal-dominated Bastar region where the forces are deployed for anti-Maoist operations.

The issue came to light after activist Himanshu Kumar raised the issue of complaint through a Facebook post on Sunday, alleging that CRPF personnel had molested young schoolgirls at a hostel during a cultural programme on July 31.

“We have begun an investigation into the matter after registering an FIR under Protection of Children from sexual offences (POSCO) Act 2012 and IPC sections. We are about to conduct an identification parade of the two accused”, Dantewada additional superintendent of police Abhishek Pallav told TOI over phone from Dantewada.

He said nearly 550 girls reside at the POTA cabin, a hostel for girls, at Palnar where a Rakshabandhan event was organised and recorded by a local television channel on July 31. The local TV channel telecast the event on Monday on the occasion of Rakshabandhan.

As per the complaint, two unidentified men in uniform trailed the girls to the bathroom and molested them on the pretext of frisking. Police is recording the statement of the girls’ hostel warden, who had reported the matter to the higher authorities and later to the police, Pallav added.

However, activist groups alleged that the authorities did not initiate immediate action even after the warden reported the matter to the authorities on August 1, a day after the incident. But FIR was lodged a week later on Sunday after the complaint became public.

In the past National Human Rights Commission ( NHRC ) had indicted police and para-military forces' involvement in incidents of rape and sexual assault at Bijapur district in Bastar region.

In January this year, NHRC had observed that prima facie human rights of the victims have been grossly violated by the security personnel for which the state government is vicariously liable. NHRC had also held that the victims need to be provided monetary relief. The issue of incidents of sexual assault by security forces deployed in anti-naxal operations in Bastar had snowballed into a controversy in the past with the victims and activists groups moving the courts, seeking a detailed probe and action against the accused.

