Assam rape case: Accused killed in police custody
The accused in the alleged gangrape of a minor in Assam’s Nagaon district, a 24-year-old youth, killed in police custody on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday after he reportedly “tried to escape by jumping into a pond.”
Tafazul Islam was one of three accused in the alleged gangrape of a 14-year-old in Nagaon district’s Dhing area.
According to Indian Express, he was the only one of the three arrested so far and was charged under sections of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the POCSO Act.
“After he was interrogated, he was taken to the crime scene. It is there that he tried to escape and jumped into a lake. We cordoned the area immediately and called the SDRF. After the SDRF searched, they recovered the dead body. Our constable, who was holding his handcuffs, has got some injury in his hand and has been sent for treatment,” the newspaper quoted Nagaon SP as saying.
This comes hours after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had declared that the government would “not spare anyone” involved in the case.
The BJP government has been accused of extrajudicial killings by several rights watchdogs.
Since the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led BJP government assumed power in Assam, over 60 people have been killed by police, either in staged encounters or in police custody. Among those identified, most were Muslims and tribals.
