Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 29 Aug: The All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) has expressed dissatisfaction over the progress of investigation into the Karo residential school rape and molestation case.
Twenty-one schoolchildren were allegedly raped and molested by Yumken Bagra during his stint as the hostel warden of the government residential school in Karo in Monigong circle of Shi-Yomi district from 2014 to 2022.
Addressing the media at the Arunachal Press Club here on Tuesday, AAPSU women wing president Ponung Darang said that the union is not satisfied with the progress of the investigation, and that much could have been done to speed up the pace of the investigation.
“We have gone through the report of Arunachal Pradesh State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (APSCPCR). As per its report, it is clear that more people are involved in this case, apart from the main accused. They spoke to the victims and their families and have prepared a very good report. The investigating agency should have carried out the investigation based on the report of the APSCPCR. We strongly believe that more people are involved in this case,” said Darang.
She informed also that an AAPSU team had met senior officials, including the investigation officer (IO) of the case and the SIT SP, demanding that the scope of the investigation be broadened.
“The SIT as a whole and the IO of the case have done a good job so far in this case. However, they need to speed up investigation and also broaden the scope. We met them to place our grievances and demands but till now we have not heard anything from them in this regard,” she added.
Darang further said that a lot of lacunae have been witnessed in the case.
She appealed to Education Minister Taba Tedir to “take strict action against the authorities of Karo residential school who failed to act on time when the students lodged a protest against the accused.”
Karo POSCO Case Committee vice chairman Taju Tapen appealed to the state government to release the interim compensation for the victims.
“The victims are supposed to get compensation as per the norms. But till now the government has not provided them any compensation. We would like to appeal to the state government to pay compensation at the earliest,” said Tapen.
“The case was fixed consecutively with effect from 28 and 30 August for examination of 21 victims. Accordingly, we brought the victims here (Itanagar) on 26 August. As these victims are minors from different villages, it was very difficult to gather them all and travel a long distance to Itanagar. However, the matter has been postponed after a fresh chargesheet has been filed against one more alleged accused,” he added.
He also alleged that proper arrangements have not been made at the court for the victims.
“On 28 August, the victims were brought to the Yupia sessions court. It is very disappointing to say that no arrangements were made for the victims. There are no separate office rooms for the special public prosecutor where the victims can be kept away from the vicinity of the accused and the public. The victim had to hide themselves in the police bus like accused. It was only after the intervention of the special PP that the victims were shifted to a computer room. But in the whole process, the identities of the victims are being revealed to the public, which is completely against the POCSO Act, as well as the dignity of the victims,” he added.
He said also that the committee is not satisfied by the steps taken so far by the state government and the investigation agency.
“The investigation is not moving in the right direction. This is because the investigation agency is submitting the chargesheet on piecemeal basis. In the supplementary chargesheet submitted by the IO, the state commission for protection of children in its detailed inquiry report has clearly mentioned the names of the co-accused and their role in the commission of the heinous offence.
“But surprisingly, those named as co-accused have neither been arrested nor chargesheeted, whereas there are so many co-accused in this case. If this is the attitude and performance of the investigation agency, we don’t hope that the case will be disposed of within two months, as directed by the Gauhati High Court. The parents are also not satisfied with the investigation,” he added.
