Guwahati police today arrested a fourth person who was the part of the mob of twenty that molested a teenage girl. The National Commission for Women (NCW) said it will send a team to probe the incident.

‘We will take action. We have taken cognizance of the matter. I would
like to request the government to take note of such issues. A committee will be leaving for Guwahati tomorrow,’ NCW chairperson Mamta Sharma told a TV channel.

The girl had entered into a brawl in the bar with her friend and following an altercation some youths attempted to molest her, said police.

According to video footage shot by a local television channel, the mob continued molesting her for around half an hour before police reached the spot, rescued the girl and handed her over to her family.

One more youth has been arrested on the charge of stripping and molesting a girl in a busy area in Guwahati while 12 others involved in the incident have been identified.

A total of four persons have been arrested in connection with the incident in front of a bar on the Guwahati-Shillong Road on Monday night, which led to a public outcry after a video of the shocking incident was uploaded on Youtube.

‘One more person has been arrested and 12 others have been identified,’ Assam director general of police Jayanta Narayan Chowdhury told PTI.

‘Thanks to the prompt media coverage we have got the video clip of the brawl and have identified 12 of them. We will take strong action against the guilty.’ the DGP said.

Narrating the sequence of events, Chowdhury said, four girls and two boys, apparently known to each other, entered the bar on Monday night, where they subsequently had a brawl and were forced outside by the establishment’s security.

‘When the six came out on the streets, local people taking advantage of the situation pushed and pulled one of the girls and attempted to strip and molest her,’ the DGP said.

‘The police were alerted and they reached the scene immediately after the incident and rescued the girl,’ he said.

Asked about the safety of women in Guwahati, the DGP said, ‘This incident does not prove that there are predators lurking in the city’.

‘This is just an isolated incident when local people took advantage of the situation and indulged in the crime,’ the DGP said.

The arrested includes a contractual employee of Amtron, Assam government’s IT agency, Amarjyoti Kalita.

Kalita, who had also acted in an Assamese serial where he played the role of a policeman, has since been dismissed from service.

Two others who were arrested are Dhananjoy Basfor, a sweeper and Bubul Das a local tradesman, the SP said.

The accused were charged with unlawful assembly, obscene act and assault on a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty, following a written complaint filed by the girl’s mother.

Meanwhile, chief minister Tarun Gogoi termed the incident as unfortunate.

He also directed the district administration and police to monitor all bars, clubs, discos and hotels and raid them at any time if there was report of any untoward incident.

Chairperson of Assam State Commission for Women Neera Barooah said the commission had taken cognisance of the incident and will decide on the next course of action based on police act report.