The Nirjatan Birodhi Aikyo Mancha on Friday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for not taking any action against the Union Minister of State for Railways and BJP leader Rajen Gohain who had allegedly raped a woman in Nagaon and demanded that he be “grilled”.
The General Secretary of the Mancha Sumitra Hazarika, while questioning the role played by the police in the case, said, “Why haven’t the police arrested Gohain? Is it because he is a Union Minister?” Hazarika alleged that the saffron party has been maintaining “stoic silence” on the matter. She was also “amazed” over the fact that no other women organisation in Assam had taken any initiative to ensure that Gohain be punished for “raping” a woman.
“The lady in question (read who has brought the rape charges against Gohain) is facing a huge sense of insecurity,” she stated. It may be recalled that a 26-year-old woman from Deurigaon in Central Assam’s Nagaon district had lodged an FIR on August 2 last against Rajen Gohain for allegedly raping her and her sister on the pretext of providing them jobs.
A case (No 2592/18) against Gohain was registered at the Nagaon Sadar Police Station under Sections 417 (cheating), 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Later, the husband of the ‘rape’ victim did a U-turn and in a purported video which surfaced on Facebook appealed to the media “not to follow up the case”.
The man said in the video, “We filed an FIR at Nagaon Sadar Police Station against Union Minister Rajen Gohain on August 1 last. We filed the case against Gohain due to some misunderstanding. Later, we realised our mistakes and requested the police on August 6 last to withdraw the case. We requested the magistrate as well to close the case. So, I call upon the media not to follow up the case and run any news in this regard.”
The said video had raised many a eyebrows vis-à-vis the husband suddenly doing a volte-face and giving a clean chit to Gohain. The Assam Congress, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) had demanded immediate resignation of Gohain once the rape charges were brought against him.