[Indu Chukhu]
ITANAGAR, 24 Sep: After almost one-and-a-half-year, the special judge (POCSO) west sessions division in Yupia convicted prime accused Yumken Bagra for sexually assaulting 21 school children in Koro in Shi-Yomi district.
Bagra, along with the school’s Hindi teacher Marbom Ngomdir and its former headmaster Singtung Yorpen, has been convicted for the crime. Two other accused, Daniel Pertin and Tajung Yorpen, were acquitted in the case.
Prime accused Bagra was the hostel warden of the government residential school in Karo in Shi-Yomi district, where he sexually assaulted 21 minor students.
Bagra was convicted under Section 328 of the Indian Penal Code, read with Sections 6, 10, and 12 of the POCSO Act. Ngomdir, the Hindi teacher, was convicted under Section 506 of the IPC and Section 17/21(1) of the POCSO Act. Former headmaster Singtung Yorpen was convicted under Section 17/21(2) of the POCSO Act.
The sentencing hearing for the three convicts will take place on Wednesday.
Judge Jaweplu Chai on Tuesday read out the harrowing statements recorded by the victims, stating that Yumken Bagra used to call the children to his government quarters and ask them to touch his private parts.
The children were asked to massage Bagra’s private parts and do “sexy dance, and to watch porn movies till late night,” the statement read, adding that the victims complained of pain in passing urine and stool and said that they were often found naked the next morning.
Bagra used to insert his fingers in the private parts of the victims and administer medicines – tablets, capsules and syrup – saying that the medicines were good for health, before bedtime, leading the victims to feel drowsy, dizzy and lose sense. He used to force the minor victims to sleep with him, and threatened to kill them if they disclosed the treatment to anyone.
If they refused to watch porn videos, Bagra would bang the victims’ heads against the wall and kick them. The victims were forced to play games such as tearing of underwear, in which the boys were forced to undress girls. Bagra also used to take the children outside of the school and ask them to download porn videos. The children were asked to dance to Bollywood songs while visualising sexual acts.
The victims disclosed that they would wake up naked in the morning, suffering from body ache and unable to walk properly. They said that they would find blood stains on their underwear, too.
One of the victims said during the deposition that “when I was studying in Class 3, Yumken Bagra used to call me to cook food in his school quarters. He touched my whole body from behind, including the chest and the private parts. Every evening, Bagra used to call me and others and used to make us watch porn movies on his mobile phone and he used to be only in his underwear. He used to feed two spoonfuls of liquid and one tablet to each one of us, because of which we felt sleepy.”
Another victim said that Bagra used to force the minors to massage his penis and ask them to watch ‘Crime Patrol’ on his mobile phone, adding that he used to insert his finger in their vaginas.
Yet another victim disclosed that the warden summoned her to his quarters about three times, made her fully naked, and asked her to kiss his penis.
The victims disclosed that they were called for oral sex, as well. An 11-year-old male victim disclosed that he too was called by Bagra, who asked him to watch porn movies and made him massage his whole body, including his private parts, with oil.
“He even fed me a tablet. I felt sleepy and continued to massage for him,” the male victim said.
Following examination by a gynaecologist, four of the victims were found to have suffered vaginal penetration, as their hymens were not found intact. The most common reason for a torn hymen is due to sexual penetration, the doctor said.
Accused Marbom Ngomdir had joined as a part-time Hindi teacher at the school in 2014, along with Bagra. During the deposition, five of the victims disclosed that Ngomdir was well aware of all the activities going on in the school hostel, and she had threatened the victims with dire consequences if they disclosed it.
During their deposition, the five victims disclosed that they had reported against Bagra to the school’s headmaster Singtung Yorpen, but the headmaster refused to believe it and restricted them from disclosing it, as it would have brought disrepute to the school.
Out of the 21 victims, 13 are girls, aged between 6and 15 years, and eight boys, aged between 9 and 16 years.
T Uli is the SPP (POCSO) who represented the minor victims on behalf of the state.
