11 get two years' term in Guwahati teasing case

A local court on Friday convicted 11 of the 16 accused in the infamous G S Road molestation case here and sentenced them to two years’ jail each. Four were acquitted due to lack of evidence while one accused was found to be a juvenile.

Pronouncing the verdict, Kamrup Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) S P Moitra sentenced each of the 11 convicts, including the prime accused, Amarjyoti Kalita, to two years’ rigorous imprisonment. A fine of Rs 3,000 was also slapped on each of them.

The convicted include Puspendra Das, Sikandar Basfor, Dhanraj Basfor, Nabajyoti Baruah, Nabajyoti Deka, Deepak Deb, Rubul Ali, Deba Das, Rupkanta Kalita and Ghanasyham Kumar Malik, while the court acquitted local television channel journalist Gaurav Jyoti Neog, Hafizuddin, Diganta Basumatary and Jitumoni Deka for lack of evidence.

The police had arrested 16 people for their involvement in the July 9 case that rocked the entire country.

However, one of the accused was found to be a minor and his case was being heard in the Juvenile Justice Court.

All the accused are currently on bail.

Accused unhappy

Advcate Bhaskar Dev Konwar, who represented the 11 accused, said they are not happy with the judgment and they would appeal against the verdict.

“We have submitted an application to the CJM as we are not satisfied with the judgment. Since we have the statutory right to appeal before the sessions court within 30 days, we have also approached the court to uphold the existing bail of the convicts during the appeal period,” Dev Konwar added.

A group of men publicly molested and stripped a teenage girl outside a pub in Guwahati on July 9 evening. The incident created a country-wide furore after the video clip of it was telecast and the visuals went viral on the internet.

Kalita, the main accused, had been absconding since July 9 but finally surrendered to the Varanasi police in Uttar Pradesh on July 23.

The government had constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Superintendent of Police (Operations) Ranjan Bhuyan, to deal with the case.

The Special Investigation Team submitted a charge sheet on September 4 listing the 16 as accused.