HT Correspondent
KOKRAJHAR, Jan 10: Kokrajhar witnessed a highly tense situation following the rape of a mentally challenged young woman by a person in Kokrajhar town on Saturday.
The incident took place near Patharghat on Saturday morning. The accused person reportedly raped a mentally challenged woman at her own home when she was alone. The accused person immediately fled the spot after raping, who was a daily wage earner from Bahalpur area of Dhubri district. The rapist has been identified as Rafikul Islam.
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The victim woman revealed the incident before a nearby women and later local people staged a sit-in protest against the incident for nearly three hours on the Kokrajhar–Bilasipara connecting road in front of Kokrajhar Sadar Police Station.
The protesters demanded capital punishment for the accused rapist Rafikul Islam and warned that otherwise the public would burn the rapist alive. They also sought the intervention of Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma and demanded justice for the orphaned, mentally challenged rape victim. Shops, vehicles and commercial activities were shut down along the Kokrajhar town during the protest.
Amidst the ongoing situation, in the evening, another tense situation arose just about 50 metres from Kokrajhar Sadar Police Station over the issue of shops not being closed. Amid the ongoing protests against the rape of the mentally challenged woman, tension flared after shopkeepers from a particular community did not allow to close their business establishments.
When people raising slogans of “Jai Shri Ram” moved forward to enforce the shutdown of shops, a youth from a particular community tried to stop them, leading to a heated situation. As the argument between the two sides intensified, those enforcing the shutdown attacked the shop and chased the youth onto the main road, beating him.
Amid attacks by several hundred people, the youth managed to escape with injuries in the presence of the police and fled the scene. The injured youth was later identified as Rashidul Islam, an ABMSU activist from the Magurmari area of Kokrajhar district.
A large police contingent led by Kokrajhar Superintendent of Police Akshat Garg and Additional Superintendent of Police Navanita Sharma arrived at the spot and took swift action to control the situation. After senior police officials assured that strict legal action would be taken against the accused following a proper investigation, the situation eased to some extent. Till the time of filing this report, discussions between the police and protesters were still ongoing.
