Miao: Hundreds of women and their supporters took out a rally in Miao, a remote town in northeastern India, to demand justice for an 18-year-old girl who was murdered more than two months ago.
The decomposed body of Rupmoni Gowala was found on the banks of Noa Dihing Rivet near Miao on June 18 and police arrested A K Khan, a junior engineer working at the local office of the Rural Works Department, in connection with the case.
However, he was released on bail soon and local people fear the police would quash up the case and let the accused, a Muslim from outside the state, to go scot-free.
The Miao unit of the Arunachal Pradesh Woman Welfare Society organized the August 29 rally to mount pressure on the administration to bring the accused back to custody and conduct a fair probe.
“This is not to project any particular community in bad light but a humble and sincere effort on our part to demand justice for Rupmoni Gowala,” said Nongpa Mossang, president of the women’s society.
The police had arrested Khan based on the complaint of the girl’s parents. The girl’s body was found with legs tied and face mutilated beyond recognition. The poor girl from Namphai II area, 8 km from Miao, worked as a domestic help at Khan’s residence.
Her parents had complained that their daughter had gone missing from Khan’s residence on June 13. “We are convinced that it is Khan who killed our daughter and dumped at the river” they alleged at the rally.
According to them, their daughter would get justice only if people of good came forward to support their cause. “We are sincerely grateful the woman group for taking up our daughter’s case and we are hopeful of justice for our daughter.”
Speaking on the occasion, Jowkhong Singpho, Zilla Parishad chairperson for Changlang District, expressed his grief over the death of the young girl and promised to get justice for her and her family. “It has been more than two months since this incident took place. I appreciate and stand with the APWWS demanding justice for the murder victim,” he added.
Urging people to fight for justice, Sethai Sena, in-charge of the Congress party in Anjaw district warned, “If we do not show support and fight for justice for this poor girl, it would send out a very wrong message and will embolden the perpetrators of such heinous crimes and our own daughters may be subjected to this kind of crimes in future.”
Khan was arrested and booked under section 302/201 IPC. But within five days he was released on bail. The accused is said to have left Miao for treatment in Delhi.
The women group has filed a petition against Khan’s bail and its hearing is scheduled for August 31.
The woman group expressed the hope the court would withdraw the bail. “If the accused is not taken back to custody, we would organize a huge candle light protest march around Miao soon,” said Nitu Singpho, general secretary of the women’s group.