Rape of Assam Minor in Nagaon’s Dhing: One of the three accused involved in the gang rape of a 14-year-old girl in Assamese’s Dhing died after he allegedly jumped into a pond with his hands tied early Saturday morning when a police team took him to reenact the crime scene.

Tafazul Islam, the main accused arrested on Friday, is said to have escaped from police custody and jumped into a pond.

A 14-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by three men in Assam’s Nagaon district on Thursday, sparking massive street protests. The girl was injured and left unconscious on the roadside near a pond before she was rescued by locals and reported to the police.

The girl was allegedly attacked and raped by three men as she was cycling home from school in Dhing district around 8 p.m. on Thursday, police said.

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According to police, the defendant was taken to the alleged crime scene at around 3:30 a.m. to recreate the crime scene.

“The accused escaped from police custody and jumped into the pond. A search operation was immediately launched and his body was recovered after nearly two hours,” police added.

Previous arrests

Police arrested one person and detained another while the search for the third was on. Director General of Police GP Singh had reviewed the progress of the investigation on Friday.

Nagaon district police superintendent Swapnaneel Deka told news agency ANI that when a police team brought Tafazul Islam to the incident spot for investigation last night, the main accused tried to escape and jumped into a pond nearby. “Our police officials launched a search operation and with the help of the SDRF team, we recovered his body from the pond this morning,” he said.

Assam Director General of Police GP Singh visited the accident site on Friday, met the victim’s family members and also spoke to senior police officials.

Commenting on the incident, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday: “When atrocities against women occur, we must act immediately.”

Addressing the media, Sarma said, “I just want to say one thing. When there are atrocities against women, we have to intervene immediately. But the public should see that the government is taking strict action. When people feel that the government is lax, they get angry. When such incidents happen, the government should intervene very aggressively. The Bengal government did not do that, so people got angry.”

He added that after the Lok Sabha elections this year, “we are seeing a certain community of people engaging in criminal activities”.

“The perpetrators of the Dhing incident involving a minor Hindu will be punished,” he added.

(With inputs from PTI, ANI)