Girls escape assault in Kokrajhar - Auto driver among 2 held

Preetam B. Choudhury, TT, Kokrajhar, Oct. 15: Two girls jumped off a speeding autorickshaw and escaped an assault bid in Gossaigaon subdivision of Kokrajhar district last night. They sustained minor injuries.

Revealing this today, police said they have arrested the two accused, the auto driver and his acquaintance who was also in the vehicle.

The driver, identified as Md Motiar Rahman of Madhyapetla village under Tamarhat police station in Dhubri district, was arrested last night while his acquaintance, identified as Dulal Shil of Hatidura Oxguri, also under Tamarhat police station, was arrested this morning.

The police said the two girls had boarded the auto (registration No. AS-16/C-5571) from Gossaigaon town to go to Tamarhat town, a distance of 20km, around 9.30pm.

When they reached Jacobpur, 8km from Gossaigaon town, the auto driver turned into another road, deviating from the usual route, with mala fide intention.

Sensing trouble, one of the girls jumped from the speeding autorickshaw. Seeing her friend jump, the other girl followed suit.

The accused stopped the auto, caught the girl who had jumped out second and tried to drag her into the vehicle. Her friend then started shouting, bringing residents rushing to the spot.

The locals caught the driver while the acquaintance managed to escape. The residents informed the police and when they arrived at the spot, handed over the driver to them.

The incident comes three days after a 17-year-old college student was allegedly held captive for over 12 hours and raped by seven youths here on Tuesday.

The police are yet to arrest any of the accused. "We are looking for two of the main accused who are still on the run," said a senior police officer investigating the case.

The matter came to light only on Thursday after the girl tried to commit suicide by consuming poison and was admitted to a hospital in a serious condition.

The girl, who is recuperating in the hospital, said she was forcefully picked up by seven youths at Salakati in Kokrajhar district on Dashami and taken to Bongaigaon where she was forced to consume alcohol in a hotel. The youths later brought her to the rented residence of one of the accused in Kokrajhar town where they took turns in raping her the entire night. The next day they dropped her at Phutiagaon, located between Salakati (3km) and Kokrajhar town (7km) in an injured and devastated state.

The girl identified two of the youths as Prasanta Ray, 25, and Prasenjit Ray, 22. Prasanta works ina medical store near Rupnath Brahma civil hospital in Kokrajhar town while Prasenjit is from the Chandrapara area of the town. Both are absconding.

An FIR was lodged at Salakati police outpost by the girl's parents.