[ Karyir Riba ]
ROING, 14 Oct: A physically and mentally challenged woman was raped and she sustained multiple injuries from being repeatedly attacked with a machete by one Kyakang Warang, in Taloni village in Lower Dibang Valley district.
The incident occurred on late evening of 4 October when the accused entered the house of the victim on the pretext of taking shelter from the rain and taking a little rest before making his way to the labour camp where he was stationed.
Warang is reported to be a permanent resident of Warang village in East Kameng district, and had arrived in Taloni village a couple of days prior to committing the crime.
He was part of a labourers’ team who were there for some jungle-cutting work.
A family member of the victim, who first learnt of the situation, recounted that, when she returned home, she found the culprit napping inside the area of the house where the victim used to live. She was scared because the victim was alone in the house, and when she hurried inside, she was shocked to find the destroyed household, and then she found the victim.
“I was shocked to see her in that condition, all covered in blood. She screamed a lot, so her rapist hit her in the face with the machete, which has left a deep gash near her mouth. Since our houses in the village are far apart, no one could hear her screams. Not only had she been raped, she was brutally beaten by this man. When she tried to run and hide behind some banana plants, he destroyed them with his machete and got her. All her clothes and other household items were also destroyed with the machete, including the fireplace. My husband was not home, and we do not have network coverage in our village area, so I could not call anybody for help either,” she recounted.
“Once I came back to my senses, I started screaming and called for help from other villagers, who rushed in and got hold of the culprit. We had to bind him because he was trying to escape. When my husband arrived, we contacted the person/manager, Talar Dara, who had brought the culprit to the village as part of his labourers’ team. He requested us to wait for his arrival as he was away. When all the parties were present, it was decided that the issue would be solved according to the local customary law.
“However, when others came to know of the incident, they made us aware and suggested that we should report the crime and file an FIR against the culprit. Thus, we came down to Roing and on 10 October filed an FIR at the police station,” she informed.
Taloni is an interior village with no motorable road. The last motorable village is Desali, and it takes a foot march of approximately 15 kms to reach Taloni.
A case [u/s 376 (2) (1) 325 IPC] has been registered for further investigation.
