Activists seek action against policemen in Assam

Activists in Assam will be moving the Human Rights Commission at the Centre and the state against policemen who paraded a couple naked after “catching them in a compromising position” on Wednesday.

Activists in Assam will be moving the Human Rights Commission at the Centre and the state against policemen who paraded a couple naked after “catching them in a compromising position” on Wednesday.

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Tipped off by locals, five policemen located the couple in a house in Morigaon, 140 km east of Guwahati. They called in some media persons and allegedly forced the couple, both in their early twenties, to remain naked for 20 minutes to facilitate video-shooting and photography.

“The footage, aired on television (on local channels), seemed as if the police had made a porn movie. This was an attack on a woman’s modesty, and we are drafting a letter to the human rights bodies, seeking exemplary punishment,” said Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti (a human rights group) leader Babumoni Goswami on Friday.

Members of the couple’s families and their associates staged a protest outside the Morigaon police station, demanding action against the ‘voyeuristic’ policemen.

But a deputy superintendent of police had been asked to probe the case and “action would be taken against the policemen if found guilty”, he added.

In March, an MMS of a boy and a girl – both in their early teens – having sex in a police station had embarrassed the Arunachal Pradesh government. The video clip was made in June 2009 after some policemen on patrol in the state’s Daporijo town picked the teenagers up and forced them to have sex. Captured on mobile phones, the sexual act was circulated this year after a policeman involved fell out with the others.