Our Correspondent
KOHIMA, AUGUST 31
The Kohima Village Council (KVC) and Kohima Village Youth Organization (KVYO) will jointly undertake a public rally on Tuesday in protest against an alleged sexual assault on August 22 where an elderly woman of Kohima village was said to have been raped and assaulted by a youth.
The members of the community will converge at the Government High School junction at 9.30 am and will proceed to the chief minister’s official residence to submit a memorandum. The event will be followed by a public assembly in Kohima town’s local ground.Talking to Eastern Mirror, KVYO’s president Ketounei Kire said all the business establishments within Kohima village jurisdiction (excluding Kohima main town and wards/colony areas) will remain closed during the rally.
He further informed that all vehicular movement within the village jurisdiction (roads cutting through the village area) will also be stopped till the rally gets over.
The KVYO president, however, made it clear that business establishments and vehicular movement in Kohima town and wards/colonies do not fall under the directive. For those denizens of Kohima village residing in the upper side of Kohima, Kire informed them to assemble at Razhü Point at 10 am to join the rallyists who will come up from High School junction.
It was on August 22 evening at around 4 pm where a youth raped and assaulted a 60-year old woman of Kohima village. The incident happened when the elderly woman was returning from her paddy field at Gashie, a point leading to the KMC dumping site, below Rüzhükhrie Government Higher Secondary School, Kohima.
It was reported that the accused approached the victim on her way and demanded for sexual favours, but when she resisted, he raped the woman and later assaulted her with a machete. According to sources, the accused, after raping the elderly woman, also pierced an object into her private parts.
The accused Thanwalo Magh, who is now in police custody, hails from Tesophenyu village under Tseminyu sub-division. He was reported to have been caught by the KVYO members and was later handed over to the police.
The victim, a mother, who was grievously injured, is still being treated at an ICU in one of the hospitals in Kohima.
The four other suspects who were also arrested along with the main accused are now under judicial custody. Two of them, including the main accused, were arrested the same day, while the others were arrested the next day.
All five of them were reported to have criminal records. Police sources said that some of the accused have five or more criminal cases in their record.
SDPO Atou Zumvü while stating that swap samples have been dispatched for forensic analysis, refused to comment on the progress of the investigation until the forensic report arrives.
Meanwhile the Superintendent of Police, Kohima, Joseph Hesso, while issuing a travel advisory, has asked the general public, unless under unavoidable circumstances, to avoid plying within Kohima main town from 9:30 am till the procession is over.
“This advisory is issued to facilitate peaceful conduct of the procession as well as to avoid any untoward incidents/ inconveniences to the general public,” the SP informed.
