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Members of various Angami women organisations participate in a silent march against the rape of a woman in Kohima on Thursday. (EM Images)[/caption]
Our Correspondent
Kohima, Oct. 17 (EMN): A team of Kohima police on October 16 arrested a man accused of raping a mother of two.
According to reports, the accused, Vekhota Sapu from Phek district, had been on the run for quite some time.
Various organisations and associations staged a silent protest in Kohima on Friday and sought the administration’s prompt action.
On the evening of October 13, while the victim was returning home, the accused “stopped her, threatened her in gunpoint, robbed her, and forcibly raped her,” read a statement from the Rüsoma Village Council (RVC).
According to PRO of Kohima police, a complaint against the accused was received on October 13 after which the team of police assisted by the villagers launched a manhunt to apprehend the accused person.
On receiving information that the accused has been sighted at Gariphema village, the team of police went and arrested him.
An FIR was filed on October 15 by the victim’s brother at North Police Station Kohima. The police will forward the case to the court at the earliest, the PRO added.
Prior to the rape incident, the police had also received a complaint from ANTA, which was being circulated on WhatsApp. It reported that the accused, Sapu, was threatening taxi drivers and extorting money from them, the PRO said.
Meanwhile, on October 16, a team from Nagaland State Commission for Women, including a legal consultant, met with the victim. The team told Eastern Mirror that the victim was taken to Naga Hospital for medical examination on October 15, and results are awaited. The team members also said that the victim’s health is ‘unstable owing to repeated rape and dragging’.
The RVC supported by various Angami women organisations had met with the deputy commissioner of Kohima and submitted a memorandum on Thursday, besides staging a silent protest.
In the memorandum, the council appealed to the administration “to refuse bail to the culprit by any person at any point of time; if the culprit is bailed out, his bailers will be held entirely responsible for any eventuality.”
Further, it demanded befitting punishment to the culprit, ‘which should not be less than life imprisonment’. The council also appealed for necessary help for rehabilitation of the victim as well as her speedy recovery.