Angry residents of Wangjing in Manipur’s Thoubal district on Friday demolished the house of a man who allegedly raped an 18-year-old housewife on Thursday night. They also made a bonfire of articles disgorged from the house.
The people have decided to expel the absconder Somorjit Soibam who, the woman told her husband, pounced on her, dragged her to a secluded place on the banks of the Wangjing river and committed the crime around 8.30 pm.
In another incident, the Nagaland police handed over an alleged rapist to the Manipur police on Thursday evening. The police are questioning Raju Sorin, who, working at a construction site in Senapati district, took away a four-year-old girl on Christmas night, telling her father that he would show the child festivities happening around. But as the girl did not return home till late in the night, her father — a labourer at the construction site — launched a search with the help of local tribals. They found her crying near a bush, while Sorin was sitting a little distance away. As the contractor for the construction works is from Nagaland, Sorin was bundled off to Nagaland. The girl was first rushed to a hospital in Dimapur, Nagaland. When her condition became serious she was taken to Kohima.
Sorin is a Nepali settled in Assam.
In yet another case, a Joint Action Committee said if the police did not arrest within five days three persons who allegedly raped a Muslim girl on the night of December 19, an agitation would be launched. The committee, in a statement, said the 16-year-old victim named Nasir Ahmed of Kyamgei in Thoubal district who, she alleged, along with two accomplices, abducted her and raped her. The girl, who became unconscious, was abandoned after the crime. She was rushed to the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences hospital in Imphal, where her condition is said to be serious.
When she regained consciousness she named Nasir Ahmed but could not identify the others who were wearing masks.
