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Guwahati molestation main accused ‘surrenders’ in Varanasi
Amarjyoti Kalita apparently presented himself before the police on Monday afternoon
Ratnadip Choudhury
Guwahati
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Hoardings in Guwahati indentifying the accused involved in the molestation
Photo: Ujjal Deb |
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The main accused in the 9 July Guwahati molestation case, Amarjyoti Kalita, has reportedly surrendered to the cops at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh on Monday 23 July afternoon. Although Assam Police is yet to confirm the development, well-placed sources have revealed that a team of Assam Police has left for Varanasi on Monday and would be bringing Kalita to Guwahati on Tuesday afternoon.
According to sources, Kalita had contacted his family in the Noonmati area of Guwahati on Sunday and was reportedly asked by his family to own up to his crime. He has supposedly gone to the Varanasi Cantonment Police station and surrendered. Sources said officers from UP police contacted Assam Police informing the surrender of Kalita, the prime accused in the molestation case of a teenage girl on G.S Road causing widespread outrage.
Already 13 people, including TV reporter Gaurab Jyoti Neog , who the cops believe to have orchestrated the entire episode to ‘create’ a sensation, have been arrested. Kalita was missing from 10 July morning after he left for his office Amtron, the Assam government’s IT agency, where he used to work as a casual employee.
'The visual was from the cell phone of an unknown person who sold it to me'
The Assam state police apprehended Gaurav Jyoti Neog, the television reporter who allegedly instigated and filmed the assault on a young girl by a mob of around 30 men in front of a popular nightclub in Guwahati, earlier on Friday. Investigations have revealed that the reporter could have orchestrated the entire act. Both Gaurav and News Live Editor-in-chief Atanu Bhuyan have resigned following the public outcry over the channel’s involvement. Neog spoke to Tehelka hours before his arrest clarifying his position on the incident. Excerpts from the interview:
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A video grab of the girl being molested by the mob in Guwahati |
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Today when you look back at the entire episode, how does it feel?
I admit that the 9 July incident was a heinous display of humanity. Right or wrong, the argument will continue. As a journalist I did take the footage, which eventually became a national issue and it is by virtue of those visuals that some of the culprits are behind bars.
Now fingers are being pointed at you. It is being alleged that you instigated the molesters?
It is very sad for me and my family. The tragedy is that in my effort to expose the perpetrators of the heinous crime, I myself became victim of a big conspiracy. I have resigned since I wanted a break; I am upset with whatever happened and want a fair investigation. I am confident that I will get justice and that all allegations against me of inciting the mob would be found false.
What kind of conspiracy are you hinting at?
You have to look at the situation. As claimed by Akhil Gogoi, the footage was leaked out of our office. So there is a chance that some insider might be involved. This might be a plot to make me a scapegoat and defame News Live.
News Live has gone on record to say that the visuals were taken by you on your cell phone camera and it was your voice on the footage, calling the office for a camera unit to be sent to the spot immediately?
Although it is true that I had asked for a camera unit to be sent to Club Mint Bar, those visuals were not shot with my personal phone. I do not have recording facility on my phone. The visuals were from the cell phone of an unknown person who gave them to me afterwards. Let me explain it. An unknown person came running after me after we left the spot for the office. He said that he had the recording of the initial part of the ruckus on his cell phone. He offered it to me. As in other media organisations, we too have a system of ‘source money’ in our office. I paid Rs 1,000 to the man for his memory card. I don’t know him, what I was interested in was the initial visuals and not the identity of the man. So if I was present from beginning at the spot, I would not have bought the visuals and given it to the office. I would have destroyed the evidence if I was guilty. I have told this to the police when they asked me.
Did you call the police from the spot? If not, why?
I did not personally call the police. I had already passed on the message to our news desk. Moreover, it was not as if things were happening over half an hour and we were recording. Even on the News Live tape, you will find hardly 10 minutes of recording. The situation was really bad; it was beyond us to control the mob. I have told all this in detail to the police. Other people who helped rescue the girl, told us later that although several people had already called the cops, the police reacted very late.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi says that the News Live team should have informed the police. The police says that it never got any call from any media organisation…
What I can say is that the normal practice in our office is to immediately inform the police control room from the news desk as soon as any reporter or outsider informs about any incident.
Why did the molesters allow you to shoot them without any protest? It is almost as if they were posing for you.
Had you been in my position you would have understood the situation. We are shocked that this kind of an incident can really happen. It took some time for me and my colleagues to come to terms with what we were witnessing. The whole mob of molesters were more or less drunk, some even drunk out of their heads. Even the victim was drunk. They were not bothered with anything around them. Had they been in their senses, they would have feared a news channel team filming them.
On hindsight, do you now feel that the way you handled the situation on the spot and the way the exposé was aired by News Live, you could have done things differently?
As I told you, it all happened in the heat of the moment. We reacted the best way we could. Everything went haywire, and now the national media, some Delhi-based channels, are pointing fingers at me, almost making me a villain. Did they ever try to contact me for my side of the story? I am speaking my heart out to you, because TEHELKA has been trying to get my side of the story as well. I am a reporter, I did my job and we got the story. How it was aired, what news angle was taken, was decided by the editors. I do not want to comment on that. I was in touch with my seniors from the spot. Ratnadip Choudhury is a Principal Correspondent with Tehelka.
Ratnadip Choudhury is a Principal Correspondent with Tehelka.
ratnadip@tehelka.com
News Live editor resigns, police arrest 12 of 14 accused
Atanu Bhuyan raises questions about the fairness of the investigation, main culprit Amarjyoti Kalita still absconding
Ratnadip Choudhury
Guwahati
The Guwahati molestation case on Tuesday took yet another turn when the editor-in-chief of News Live, the Guwahati-based satellite news channel, which first aired footage of the shameful street molestation, tendered his resignation after being apprehensive about the investigation that may turn biased against the channel and its reporter Gaurabjyoti Neog, who had filmed the incident. Neog is the reporter against whom Assam’s RTI activist Akhil Gogoi has brought allegations of orchestrating the molestation bid and later presented it is as a exposé to get TRP mileage for the channel. Assam Police is now looking into the involvement of Neog.
“I was stunned by what Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told media outside Assembly last evening. He opined that our reporter should have called police early and that our reporter did not behave as per journalistic ethics. While I respect his views, as CM he has taken a biased stand against our reporter and the channel and since there is a question of involvement of our reporter, I fear that now the investigation would not be fair on us,” Atanu Bhuyan told a press conference in Guwahati.
Bhuyan claims that he feared the state government might put ‘pressure’ on the management to sack him because he has stood by his reporter, and has thus resigned. Bhuyan also has indirectly raised fingers at the CM of ‘victimising’ News Live. “I am told that the CM has asked the CID to investigate the involvement of our reporter in orchestrating the episode. It was News Live that aired visuals on mob attack on MLA Rumi Nath and her second husband, why did not the CM ask for a CID investigation in that case?” Bhuyan asked.
Later in the day, CM Gogoi said: “This is my third term as CM—no media, no journalist, no editor can say that I have interfered in their work. The apprehensions are baseless. If he is a journalist then he must get out the truth.” The SSP of Guwahati City Aruba Jiban Barua would be replaced with AK Tiwari, the SP of Sonitpur district. Till now the cops have been able to nab12 of the 14 molesters who were identified. However, the main culprit Amarjyoti Kalita is yet to be arrested.
The Union Home Ministry has also asked Assam Police to ‘seriously investigate’ the involvement of the News Live reporter Gaurabjyoti Neog. Bhuyan’s resignation comes on the heels of Neog’s resignation, raising doubts on the channel’s credibility and also boosting activist Gogoi’s allegations.
Meanwhile, the police have confiscated the memory card of Neog on which the footage was shot and has also taken away computer systems from News Live office for forensic tests.
Mamta Sharma, the chairman of National Commission for Women (NCW), would be visiting Guwahati on Wednesday to talk to the victim.
Ratnadip Choudhury is a Principal Correspondent with Tehelka.
ratnadip@tehelka.com
Guwahati molestation: Public protests continue, six of 11 accused nabbed
News Live reporter, accused of being involved in the molestation, resigns, search for main accused Amarjyoti Kalita still on
Ratnadip Choudhury
Guwahati
Protest continued on the streets of Guwahati on Sunday 15 July even as the National Commission for Women (NCW) fact finding team cut short its trip and left Guwahati Sunday morning, much to the anguish of Team Anna member Akhil Gogoi. Gogoi was supposed to meet the NCW delegation on Sunday and hand over the video clipping he gave the media on Saturday 14 July claiming that a reporter of News Live News channel had instigated the street molestation of a 20-year-old woman on the night of 9 July in full public view.
“The NCW team told us that they will meet us in the afternoon, but they left for New Delhi without informing. This goes to show that they avoided us and were not ready to consider the important video clipping that shows how a reporter of News Live is involved in the molestation. Since News Live is a channel that is being promoted by Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma, Congress is creating pressure to keep the reporter’s involvement under wraps. The NCW is working on behalf of the Congress,” Gogoi alleged.
NCW’s fact finding team members from New Delhi – Alka Lamba and Wanchuk Shyiem--had told media that they would be staying in Guwahati with the victim on Sunday for further probe and meet Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
Meanwhile, people of Guwahati took to the streets on Sunday protesting the Assam Police’s inability to nab the culprits including the main accused Amarjyoti Kalita. Protestors blocked busy GS Road near the News Live office in Guwahati, demanding a probe on the involvement of its reporter Gauravjyoti Neog in the molestation. In a sudden turn of events, Neog has resigned from News Live on Saturday ‘for fair trial’.
Even as the 48-hour deadline set by CM Gogoi draws closer, Assam Police has been able to nab only six of the 11 identified molesters. The fresh arrests have been Diganta Basumatary and Navajyoti Deka while the main accused Kalita is still at large with talk of him being allegedly held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, is doing the rounds in Guwahati.
However, Assam Police could not confirm the information. “We have no confirmation. What I can say is that we are closing in on the culprits and will soon be able to catch hold of those absconding,” said Assam DGP Jayanto Narayan Choudhury. Assam Police has declared a reward of Rs 1 lakh for any tip off on Kalita’s whereabouts.
CM Gogoi is scheduled to meet the victim on Monday 16 July.
Ratnadip Choudhury is a Principal Correspondent with Tehelka.
ratnadip@tehelka.com
Special court to be set up for a speedy trial: NCW
Activist Akhil Gogoi submits a video to the fact finding team, alleges TV channel reporter instigated mob
Ratnadip Choudhury
Guwahati
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NCW members Wansuk Syiem (left) and Alka Lamba (centre) addressing a press conference in Guwahati on Saturday
Photo: Ujjal Deb |
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The National Commission for Women (NCW) special delegation, which arrived at Guwahati on Saturday 14 July to investigate the molestation of a 20-year-old woman on the night of 9 July in Guwahati in full public view, has recommended setting up a special court to end the trial within a span of six months. The NCW delegation also came down heavily on the Assam Police for the ‘state of lawlessness prevailing in the state’.
“We have met the girl, she is traumatised, we have taken her statement and assured her that we shall get the guilty punished. Thus we have decided to recommend for a special court to be constituted for a speedy trial of the case and the guilty should be punished within six months,” Alka Lamba, member of the NCW fact finding team and social activist told reporters in a press briefing here.
The two-member delegation of Wanchuk Shyiem and Alka Lamba reached Guwahati on Saturday morning where they first had a meeting with two other members of the fact finding team - Meera Baruah, Chairperson, Assam State Commission for Women (ASCW) and Hiron Moni Phukan, member of ASCW. They met the victim and the two other girls who were with her on 9 July. They also made a spot inspection of the Club Mint Bar on the busy GS Road where the incident took place between 9 and 10 at night. They later met the DGP of Assam Jayanto Narayan Choudhury.
The NCW agreed that the Assam Police was found lacking while handling the incident. “The girl narrated us how she was being molested in public on a busy road for 45 minutes with no cops around. So the lacking of policing was clear.” On being pointed out that the girl was harassed even after she was picked up in a police van, the NCW team replied, "The mob was pervert and had taken a demon shape."
The NCW team also revealed that the report of the mandatory medical examination that was conducted on the night of 9 July is still expected. “The girl has clear marks on her body of cigarette burns. She also has deep wounds and needs medication,” said the NCW team. “The state government has failed to provide medical assistance to the victim even as the TV channels went on beaming the gory visuals of her public molestation for hours,” it added.
However, the NCW team felt that News Live, the Guwahati-based TV news channel, which broke the story should be ‘lauded’ for capturing the event on camera even when the girl was desperately asking for help. The NCW rather chose to vehemently condemn the role of the public who remained bystanders and did not help the victim. Incidentally, News Live is owned by Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, wife of Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sharma.
The victim had gone for a party to the bar with her two friends. When they were returning from the bar they were molested by a group of no less the 20 people. Eleven of them have been identified. So far only four have been arrested, although DGP Choudhury had earlier claimed that they know the whereabouts of the main accused Amarjyoti Kalita. “We are on our job and would crack the case within a week,” Choudhury told Tehelka remarking on the progress of investigations.
Meanwhile team Anna member and activist Akhil Gogoi who on 13 July made serious allegations against the reporter of News Live Gaurav Jyoti Neog of instigating the mob to molest the woman, gave ‘proof’ of his allegation to the media on Saturday. Gogoi provided video clippings of the incident where apparently it appears that the said reporter of the channel has played a role in fuelling the incident. “I have given a copy of the video to the DGP, let them verify it, I am sure that government will try to keep everything under wraps," said Gogoi. Gogoi is also going to provide the NCW team with a copy of the video. “We will investigate the video, and if we find anything that helps the investigation we will use it. Law will take its own course, we are under no pressure,” reiterated Choudhury.
Ratnadip Choudhury is a Principal Correspondent with Tehelka.
ratnadip@tehelka.com
Minor girl molested in public, only 4 of 20 offenders nabbed
Nation outraged at the increasing insensitivity of state administration towards women’s safety, questions raised over news channel’s call to shoot crime instead of helping the victim
Ratnadip Choudhury
Guwahati
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A screengrab of the video of the girl being molested that went viral on the web |
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After 20 men molested a minor girl in full public view on a Guwahati road and the police refused to budge until it was quite late, the blame game between the media and the police has gone on unabated. While Guwahati Police claims to have launched a ‘massive man hunt’ for the 20 men seen in the video footage molesting a teenaged girl on a busy Guwahati street on Monday night, activist and whistleblower Akhil Gogoi has brought serious allegations against the cops including Assam Police DGP Jayanto Narayan Choudhury for not arresting the culprits because of their links to the ruling Congress. Gogoi has also lashed out at the private satellite news channel News Live, which first aired the video of the shameful and traumatic street molestation, alleging that one of its reporters, who shot the video, was among those who molested the minor.
“I have conclusive evidence that the reporter of News Live Gauravjyoti Neog was the main culprit. He was drinking inside a car and misbehaved with the girl when she came out of the bar and called other boys from the street. In due course of time the evidence would be made public,” said Gogoi. He also alleged that the police is not taking action because News Live is a channel owned by Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma. Gogoi also alleged that the other accused Amarjyoti Kalita also works for youth Congress and is close to the state Youth Congress president Pijush Hazarika.
The molestation took place on Monday night, when a teenaged girl came out of a city bar on the busy G.S Road and had an altercation with some local boys. The girl was apparently drunk. The incident came to light when News Live aired around 30 minutes of visuals of the molestation, its reporter and cameraperson apparently clear from the visual that the News Live team did not try at all to prevent the molestation and was busy shooting the heinous act. “We strongly deny the allegations. It was our channel that brought the matter to light and the entire nation got to know, so we do not think we have done anything unethical,” said Syed Zarir Hussain, managing editor at News Live.
Meanwhile the Guwahati city police has arrested four people seen in the molestation video, the main accused Amarjyoti Kalita, a contractual employee of Amtron, Assam Government’s IT agency, is still at large. Kalita is a close aide of Assam Youth Congress president Hazarika, who is an MLA from Raha. The four arrested are Dhanraj Basfor, Bikash Tiwari, Md.Hafizuddin and Rubul Das. Police have identified at least 15 of the molesters, sources confirmed, but it has been able nab only four. “I agree that this is a law and order situation but it is also a social issue. Why people did not protest, has Guwahati become a city of bystanders? We will be able to nail the culprit, but media should ask itself whether it was ethical to roll the incident so much instead of helping the victim,” Assam DGP Jayanto Narayan Choudhury told Tehelka.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) has taken the case suo moto and a team of NCW has been dispatched to visit Guwahati on Saturday to take the statement of the victim. Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has asked the Assam government to arrest the guilty.
After the media took up the issue, the entire nation has expressed outrage including Assam. “It is a shame for the Tarun Gogoi government that women are not safe in Assam. Till now the Assam government has not condemned the incident. News Live only tried to boost its TRP ratings by airing the video instead of raising an alarm. It speaks of moral degradation and lack of policing,” said noted Assamese actress and social activist Akashitora Saikia.
According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Assam ranks second only after Tripura in recording the highest incidence of crimes against women. The incident also reminded Guwahati of the gory incident in 2007 when an Adivasi girl from Assam’s Sonitpur district, who came to Guwahati to attend a rally, was stripped naked by locals in broad daylight after they attacked the Adivasi rally in a pitch battle in the Beltola area.
Ratnadip Choudhury is a Principal Correspondent with Tehelka.
ratnadip@tehelka.com
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