Even as the July 9 molestation of a girl in the city by a gang rocked the Assam Assembly on Monday, outside the House, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said the Government had asked the CID to probe the allegation that a television journalist instigated the incident.
Speaking to journalists, the Chief Minister admitted his lapses and said the police was at fault. The journalist too had a responsibility but he did not inform the police. “It was alright he was taking video [of the incident]. But why didn’t he inform the police? Journalist also did not do his job. Were not others present too responsible? Police is also at fault. It has reflected on me as I am the Home Minister. Yes, there have been lapses of my department too. That is why I have ordered a probe.”
Mr Gogoi said it was unethical on the part of journalists to ask what the name of the victim is and to reveal her identity.
In another development, the victim met the Chief Minister at his official residence and narrated the incident. He assured her that not a single guilty person would be allowed to go scot-free.
An official release said she sought assistance and when she expressed her desire to open a parlour, Mr Gogoi assured her that he would provide Rs. 50,000 from the Chief Minister's relief fund, and also look into her housing problem.
Meanwhile, the city Senior Superintendent of Police, Apurba Jibon Barua, was transferred to Dibrugarh district. The police have so far arrested eight molesters, one of them earlier in the day.
Uproar in Assembly
In the Assembly, the opposition parties — the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — sought adjournment of the House to discuss the issue of growing insecurity of women and deterioration of the law and order situation.
They also cited the attacks on Congress legislator Rumi Nath and on members of the Public Accounts Committee of the House by miscreants.
While the treasury benches agreed to a one-hour discussion immediately after question hour, they opposed adjournment motions moved by the AGP and the BJP during zero hour, on the ground that the molestation incident was sub judice and an enquiry had been ordered under the Commission of Inquiry Act.
The Speaker ordered the suspension of all 18 AIUDF members when they disrupted question hour. However, as they persisted with their demand, amidst chaos, the marshal and deputy marshals and watch and ward staff entered the House to evict them.
A little later, after a brief adjournment, the Speaker withdrew the suspension order at the request of the treasury benches. However, the AIUDF members continued with their demand and question hour began amidst uproar. The AIUDF legislators moved to the well, and later staged a walkout. The AGP and BJP members also walked out after their adjournment motions were rejected.
The Speaker, in his ruling, strongly condemned the molestation of the girl and appealed to the Government to mete out the strictest punishment in accordance with law and to prevent recurrence of such incidents.
In reply to a question, Environment and Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain said 16 persons had been arrested on charges of attacking Ms Rumi Nath and her second husband Abu Sahid Zakir Hussain on June 29, while three personal security officers of the legislator were suspended for dereliction of duty. The Cachar Superintendent of Police had initiated departmental proceedings against the three PSOs.
Keywords: Guwahati molestation case, media ethics, Tarun Gogoi, Assam Assembly
@Sadiq,
I bet the next thing you would talk about is about women who do not wear
burqa.. Right?
Why are you bringing dress in the middle of all this. It doesn't matter
what she was wearing or not wearing. Any women/human doesn't deserve to
be treated that way.
@Manoj @Sadiq - There is no difference in your opion than Talibanism. If someone got
provoked by seeing an women on skirt, he is a pervert. He is sick. Not the girl. Being in
a democratic country, we must respect the freedom of expressions. Visiting a
bar/nightclub or whatever for a good time is no sin - irrespective of whether a boy or a
girl. Bottomline is we should not sympathize with the culprits neither the journalist who
instigated the incident. They should be punished under the law so that the victim, her
family, our family and our society can feel at ease.
This is pathetic that a women was molested.... But we are considering the
girl as a small school child. Media is writing "16 year's School Student".
Don't forget she was in a BAR or a Night Club wearing short skirt with her
boy friends.... She is also partially responsible for the incidence......
If economy goes bad, there is RBI/FM to handle it.. if law and order
goes down there is administration to handle..if decisions of executive
go wrong there is judiciary to check it...
but what if culture of a society goes bad.. a degraded culture is more
dangerous than bad economy and worst law and order.. it causes
complete wiping out/losing out of whole generation... and there is not
a single gov. agency to control or rectify cultural downfall.
wearing revealing cloths and moving out in a city and village is too
different .. but it attracts same code of law, if violated..is that
justified.. if that girl knew that her society is not that much
'open', why did she commit those things..one has to respect local
consensus and culture...no country in this world has all good people..
if not by a mob.. she would have been molested by other miscreant.
all people who have commented above about 'democracy', have taken a
very narrowed/self satisfying/bookish view of democracy.
Mr Gogoi what kind of a Government you are running in Guwahati? You don't push the blame on the journalist when your police force is incapable of stopping these atrocities. As the head of the Government the buck stops with you. Don't try to deflect it. When you cannot guarantee the safety of the citizens, you are not fit to rule. Do the honorbale thing- Resign.
I completely second the view of Pranab S. I have been a person who havent even tasted a sip of alcohol till now but that doesnt give me any right to say that a person has to be disrespected because he consumes alocohol. Thats not what democracy is about. I guess the view presented by Manoj is too narrow and we just cant rub off our views (which we think for ourselves are the best morals and ethics) into the society.
Our country is going in a wrong way. All the 21 people(along with the journalist) are responsible for this molestation..
@Manoj: Closing pubs will resolve all these issues is it? So you mean to say all vehicle manufacturing has to be stopped to avoid road accidents? Mobile manufacturing has to be stopped to avoid mobile related accidents? Internet usage has to be stopped to avoid malpractices done with the help of internet?
Shutting down is not the solution. You mean to say that people who go to pubs are not respectable is it? I request you to change your outlook and concentrate on the issue properly.
Even though she came out from a pub, its her rights, she would have taken drinks or she would have gone to meet someone inside.We shouldn't interfere in her personal matters but what happened to her outside is utmost shame.She has been molested in a public area Chi...disgusting and embarrassing.Now a days all the worst things are happening in the light. People don't have the fear and they don't have the common ethics. THERE IS NO MORE SAFE FOR THE GIRLS AND WOMEN IN THE COUNTRY. Sheer Shame on the Indian government. Do not know what is the outcome of all these rages, and where it is going to take us through...Our India would soon be rated No.1 in CRIME sooner. It will never going to be a developed country with the number of crime at its top! Do not know what's next in the Queue.
Yes. What the Journalist did was indeed unethical. Every Journalist is a
citizen first and journalist next. This incident tells us the need to
regulate the Media and Journalist, especially those in the name of TRPs
doing these kind of unethical things.
Till the other day, we the people living in Assam were proud that the women of Assam led a liberal life style and suffered from no social evils...The incident just proved that such things happened in" utopia"......
The assam govt should set up an enquiry into this gory and shameful incident. This incident seems to have some background and it would be surprising if this victim was the only girl in the pub and hence was the target of moral policing.... While there is a proper democracy in our country with judiciary and executive in place protecting the people, our lives are more peaceful if we interface with these pillars of democracy as minimally as possible... As responsible citizens, we should also know that our rights are there to be exercised and not abused....
Social and the moral values only become the puppet of TRPs used accordingly, In spite of providing the preventive and cooperative aid
to the victim, highliting it to the national television as a best-
seller till the time they find the another one.
As Now i feel that living in a country ,where no government exists and
the the constitution is only revised when Anna Hazare or and Social
group come into the focus. It no more amazes with the current
scenario.
And Mr. Manoj closing down the pub, cinema hall and all the such kind of things wont able to change the mental disorder grew in the mass.The only thing we can able to do is Read the news, offend the Media /Government , Sympathize the victim and thats all.
@ Manoj: Your mentality reeks of the lack of your understanding of democracy. A democracy stands for freedom to pursue what is within the legal limits. Going to a wine/alcohol shop/pub doesn't mean anyone is of bad character. So as per you only someone getting molested outside a temple deserves justice? We are nobody to deem things as social vices or not. Remember the history - Women we not allowed to vote legally, homo sexuality was a crime. Most of these things were deemed to be abnormal by people like you in that generation. It is now that it is seen in a different light. Just because you or me lived our life in a particular way doesn't mean we should force it on everybody.
Chief Minister Gogoi is making a lame effort to deflect blame from his government by claiming that "Journalist also did not do his job"
The country owes a lot of debt to the journalist who did his/her job effectively. Thanks to the work of the journalist, the entire country now knows about the atrocity and about the useless government and police. Clearly, Gogoi is angry about his government/police being exposed as careless/incompetent and so he is now attacking the journalist.
My recommendation to Gogoi is to thank the journalist and then make sure that his government does its job of providing basic security to the people. He should stop attacking the journalist who did a great job in making sure that the whole country knew about the atrocity.
While crime against poor women commited by rich men of landed class is an old phenomenon, but such crimes commited by ordinary folks is recent phenomenon. I believe the role of popular media is big in this. Firstly the media portrays women as commodity, consumable item through filthy advertisements to titilate male buyer's. Secondly the media especially Bollywood types portray molestors, eve teasers, gangster's, one-night stand types as Hero (e.g. Amitabh Bachchan, Govinda, Jitendra in 1980's movie, Emran Hashmi etc) while women respecting/family oriented male characters are shown as LOOSER's, side hero. Why??? Why??? Why??? Can you imagine what impact this comparison has on the psyche of an 15-16 year old immature boy? I know this as I grew up in Delhi in 1980's when every boy wanted to be a goonda, don, bond with 2-3 semi-nude women in arms by hook or crook all thanks to the media.
Nothing can be more worst and pathetic then a group of youth doing this shameless disgraceful act in public place with a helpless young girl..this raises the questions against law and order and specially against the imposition of the same...since all the men seem to be fearless, this is terrific that all of the 20 men became untamed wild dogs...and none helped her....the only person who could be of help was busy making video..which might boost his career and recognition...he didnt bother about the consequences the ictim is going to bear when its aired without masking...instead of helping her and calling police he was shooting news...he is equally a guilty...not stopping a crime is again a crime.
I am in no way supporting the molesters, but the girl wasn't molested
when she came out of a school, college or office. She went to a pub - a
modern name for a wine shop. What does any respectable person (male or
female) have to do there? This is not male chauvenism. Even if a guy had
been killed, my remarks would have been the same. Close down all pubs
and wine shops in the society, half these problems will automatically
disappear
I appreciate Tarun Gogoi's stand for being straight forward.
Pointing the reporter's unethical behavior.
Unethical! Just unethical! Nothing more? The national media have
failed to analyze this issue from the right perspective. The
television channel News Live and the reporter Gaurav Jyoti Neog is
directly involved in instigating this incident with the help of the
kind of low life and scum than hangs around bars in India. Why did
they do this? For TRP’S of course – how many people would have heard of an Assamese channel News Live before this? (also personal vendetta
because she refused the reporters advances).
But lets go a little deeper. There is a moral policing angle here….the channel wanted to show that the girl was drunk and creating a nuisance, so she has been taught a lesson (because she violated Assamese culture by drinking with guys) –initially the channel not only showed the face of the girl, they also asked her lots of personal questions on tv when she was rescued by police - the cameraman was being directed by the molesting mob - the role of the media is ghastly in this case
Mr Gogoi, Just imagine if you a have a daughter and she will be in that situation and media covered like this, then what will you comment?????
Unethical? Shame on you.
Readers,
India's cheep and dirty politicians are the main culprits and root cause of all problem what we have now.
This is not just a national shame but a sheer embarrassing moment to the humanity. I beg the media to ensure that all the culprits would get the exemplary punishment so that any other person in future should fear remembering the punishment given to these culprits.
No doubt that the said media role may be called unethical. But the chief minister is saying this due the fact that he has been pushes to the corner. This is also clear from his statement regarding not meeting the NCW. Had the so called unethical media had not highlighted the incident, he would have remained as clean as his `Dhoti and Kurta'. But then what to do. He is the Chief Minister. ``YATHA RAJA TATHA PRAJA".
Mr Gogoi, most of the things media does these days is unethical. They have live
telecasted the mumbai attacks for the benefit of the perpetrators.
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