Tripura man arrested for gangraping wife along with another person

Police said the woman was living separately from her husband as the couple had an estranged relationship, but he called her home three days ago and gangraped her along with another person

A 30-year-old man was arrested on Monday for allegedly gangraping his 23-year-old wife along with another person at Kailasahar in Tripura’s Unakoti district, nearly 140 kilometre from Agartala, police said.

The Assam police said they will produce the accused husband in court, on Monday.

“We registered the case after it was forwarded to us by the Kailasahar police on Sunday. On the basis of the complaint, we arrested the accused husband from Kailasahar. He will be forwarded to court today ( Monday),” said a senior police official from Panisagar on the condition of anonymity.

Police said that the rape survivor was married to a daily-wage labour in 2020 but they had estranged relationship and they were staying separately. According to the complainant, she went with her husband to Kailasahar after the latter called her three days ago. After reaching there, she alleged that she was gangraped by her husband and another person.

“We registered the case under Sections of rape, abduction and criminal intimidation based on her complaint. As the rape survivor currently stays at Panisagar, the case was forwarded to us,” the official said.

The state witnessed two more gangrape incidents this month where a 16-year-old girl was allegedly gangraped at Kumarghat in Unakoti district on October 19 and another 13-year-old-girl was gangraped at Kalyanpur in Khowai district on October 26.

In the first incident, police arrested six persons and two in the latter case.

Both Opposition parties, the CPM and the Congress accused involvement of labour minister Bhagaban Das’s son in the incident occurred at Kumarghat, however, information minister Sushanta Chowdhury refuted the allegation saying that the Opposition was trying to malign Das and his son. The BJP Mahila Morcha also held protest rally against Opposition’s allegations.

CPM leader Pabitra Kar said, “Law and order is in deteriorating condition in the state. But we have seen that the ruling party is protesting against us as we demanded justice for the rape survivors. We demand police to take proper steps against the accused persons.”

BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya said, “We believe police will take proper action to arrest the rape accused persons. We also feel that there is instigation of some group behind this.”

The state recorded 407 rape incidents out of total 2,164 incidents of crime against women in past two-and-a-half years. Of the 407 incidents, 381 were rape cases and another 26 were gangrapes.

In the similar period since January 2020, seven women were murdered after rape. A total of 1,174 persons were arrested for allegedly having involvement in all women-related crimes including rape.