A middle-aged man has been arrested by the police for alleged sexual assault of a minor girl in the absence of her parents in Arunachal’s Lower Dibang Valley district.
The Roing Childline received an emergency call from Gamgu village in Meka town around Tuesday night, informing them that a child had been sexually abused. Soon after, the Childline team and local police rushed to conduct a rescue operation.
On reaching the spot, the team found that the child had been sexually abused by one Opak Borang, a man in his forties, and the victim’s neighbour.
The 10-year-old victim, in her statement to the local police, alleged that the accused would molest and rape her when her parents would be away. She stated that she had been raped multiple times.
“A ten-year-old minor girl was sexually abused several times by her neighbour and at midnight we got a call on our Childline. The man was immediately arrested and an FIR was lodged by the parents of the victim,” Paul Chawang, Director, Roing Childline, told EastMojo.
Chawang’s team tried to put the girl in a childcare institute for some time so she could undergo counselling, but she refused and insisted on going back to her mother. Her parents, farmers by profession, were initially hesitant to file a complaint against the neighbour, Chawang said.
“I had registered the FIR against the accused last night who is in police custody now,” said Inspector Chowlu, officer-in-charge of the Roing Police Station, where the complaint has been filed against the neighbour.
The official further informed that investigating officer O. Pertin is looking into the case. When contacted, Pertin refused to give any more information, stating that she did not have the authority to speak to the press.
EastMojo spoke with J K Lego, the Superintendent of Police, Lower Dibang Valley, who said, “We have registered the case and have arrested the culprit. The victim’s medical has also been done.”
The accused has confessed to his crime and has been arrested under sections 6 and 10 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) enacted to protect children from sexual offenses.
POCSO Act – Section 6: Punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault:
The Act states that whoever commits aggravated penetrative sexual assault is liable to be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than twenty years, but which may extend to imprisonment for life, which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of natural life of that person and shall also be liable to fine, or with death. In addition, a fine may be imposed under sub-section (1) shall be just and reasonable and paid to the victim to meet the medical expenses and rehabilitation of such victim.
POCSO Act – Section 10: Punishment for aggravated sexual assault:
This section of the Act stated that whoever commits aggravated sexual assault shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than five years but which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.
Several cases of child rights violations in Lower Dibang Valley district
At present, there are three childline services operational in Arunachal Pradesh in Itanagar, Roing and Namsai. At least 127 cases of child rights violations have been registered with Roing Childline to date since August 2019, of which 80 cases were from Lower Dibang Valley District, informed Chawang.
In December 2021, a special court in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tirap district designated under the POCSO Act sentenced a man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting a minor girl. In July last year, the accused, who was intoxicated, had forcefully dragged a 9-year-old girl to a bamboo grove and committed the crime.
Also read: Arunachal: Man gets 20 years for sexually assaulting minor