The Assam police have arrested five persons for allegedly forcing a group of girls to dance naked at a programme organised to celebrate Id.
The National Commission for Women has also taken suo motu cognisance of the incident with its chairperson Rekha Sharma asking Assam’s Director General of Police Kuladhar Saikia to conduct an inquiry and take action against the culprits.
The incident happened on the night of June 7 at a village in Kamrup district’s Chhaygaon. The victims were members of two dance troupes hired from Boko.
The police in Chhaygaon said the local organisers had hired the dance troupes for ₹37,000. Soon after the programme started, the organisers allegedly forced the dancers — eight of them tribal girls — to perform in the nude as demanded by the crowd. The audience also allegedly tried to molest the girls.
“The unruly crowd as well as the organisers started pulling the girls’ clothes. They threatened to kill us if they did not dance naked. Some friends and the police eventually rescued us,” said Arup D. Rabha, director of one of the dance troupes.
Mr. Rabha said the organisers had told people that they would bring “special nude dancers” from West Bengal.
On Sunday and Monday, hundreds of people took to the streets in Boko. Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma condemned the incident and said the culprits should be dealt with firmly.
