The Assam Human Rights Commission on Wednesday registered a case against the state police in connection to an incident of alleged torture and sexual assault of ten youths while in custody, an official told Scroll.in. The incident took place in the Dibrugarh district last week.
The case was registered based on a complaint filed by human rights activists and members of the All Indian Kisan Sabha on behalf of Gyandip Borgohain, a tourism entrepreneur.
Borgohain has alleged that he, his staff and some of his friends were beaten and sexually assaulted at the district’s Moran Police Station for several hours by officer Bijoy Daimari and three civilians on October 7.
The three civilians were identified as Manab Hazarika, Papu Dowerah and Dudul Lekharu.
“At Moran Police Station, we were all lined and policemen along with the two civilians took turns to assault us,” Borgohain said, according to EastMojo. “When I went to ask why they were brought to the police station, Daimari kicked me in my groin area.”
Borgohain claimed that they were picked on the apprehension that they had misbehaved with Daimari’s wife at a restaurant earlier that day. “We immediately contested that but the policemen kept beating up, hitting our private parts,” he told East Mojo.
The entrepreneur also claimed that the torture continued even after Daimari’s wife arrived at the police station and was unable to identify them, according to EastMojo.
Borgohain alleged that his team was then stripped naked while a group of policemen filmed them. “I was being told that if I or my team told anyone about the kidnapping and torture, these videos will be circulated everywhere,” he alleged.
On October 8, Daimari said that Borgohain and other people were held allegedly for harassing and molesting his wife. “I agree we had to use some force to make them admit to their crime,” he told mediapersons.
On October 9, Dibrugarh Superintendent of Police Shwetank Mishra told EastMojo that a case related to the alleged torture was filed at the Demow Police Station.
“There is a departmental enquiry against Daimari for the actions he committed against the youths,” Mishra added.
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