The 14-year-old girl had gone to the nearby jungle to graze the goats when the alleged incident took place. The victim, who did not return back home that night, was found hiding in a bush next morning by some villagers who had gone to search for her. The school going girl narrated her nightmare to her mother after which a complaint was lodged with Pakyong police. Police informed that the victim was sent for medical examination at STNM hospital and found she was raped. Purna Kami and Nar Bahadur Kami have been sent to Rongyek Jail. The two other accused persons, Man Bahadur Kami and the juvenile are still at large. A case of rape under section of 376 of IPC has been registered against the four persons. The teenager works as a vehicle helper while the other three accused persons are casual labourers from Pacheykhani, Pakyong sub-division. “The victim’s family is a middle class family. The family head earns a livelihood by doing farming. It is a shameful act and the accused should be booked under stringent laws. The heinous act has defamed the name of our village”, said a panchayat from the victim’s village. State Women Commission chairperson Subadhra Rai assured to provide all help to deliver justice to the victim. “We will meet the victim and family members on Monday. We will see what necessary help the commission can extend to the victim”, she said condemning the incident.

According to police records, 28 complaints of rape were registered in different police stations of Sikkim this year. Sixteen rape cases had been registered in 2011 reflecting the increase in sexual assaults on women in the State.  As many as five cases of rape are lodged in the only last two month November and December of the year 2012.

Meanwhile on last day of year 2012, 31st December, Chief Minister Pawan Chamling’s brother-in-law Sirish Khare was taken into police custody for allegedly spewing pepper spray on a woman customer after verbally abusing her at the Indane LPG distribution centre. The victim, Rita Pradhan told that Khare started using abusive language when being approached for KYC registration. I had gone for KYC verification over which he started yelling using abusive language without any rhyme and reason in front of other customers present’, Pradhan, a Boomtar resident said. The incident took place at around 11.30 am. Pradhan later filed a complaint at Namchi police station stating that Khare sprayed pepper spray after rejecting her KYC request. ‘I was blinded for a while along with severe itching’ told the victim. A case under IPC Section 324/354 was registered against Khare and taken into police remand. Following the incident, aggrieved resident gheraoed Namchi Police station and demanded that the accused be punished. They later dispersed from the spot. Khare happens to be the husband of Tika Maya Chamling’s (Pawan Chamling’s wife) younger sister.
 
Sikkim Himali Rajya Parisad (SHRP) Women Wing condemned the incident. ‘We want strict action against Khare and must be punished’, SHRP Women Wing Convener Dharmala Sharma said. The women wing also threatened to launch protest in case of Khare’s bail out. ‘Where is the SDF Cheli Morcha when such incidents and the ongoing rape cases happen’, Sharma said demanding strict action against the four accused of Pakyong minor gang-rape case.

“We will meet the victim and family members on Monday. We will see what necessary help the commission can extend to the victim” - Subadhra Rai

A Darjeeling woman was also injured after she jumped off a running train to escape an alleged rape attempt by an Army jawan in Bihar on 3rd January afternoon. Police said the assault happened in the 14055 Dibrugarh-Delhi Brahmaputra Mail near Ara, 50km from Patna. The Darjeeling-based woman, in her thirties, had boarded the train at New Jalpaiguri and she was going to Delhi. The Armyman, identified by cops as Rakesh Kumar, was captured by co-passenger A.D. Upadhyaya, an Assam Rifles jawan, and handed over to police at Buxar, 60km from Ara. Bhojpur D. M. Pratima S. Verma said the woman suffered injuries in her head and legs. She was admitted to a hospital in Ara, the district headquarters of Bhojpur.

A mother of 13-year-old twins, was traveling alone in the AC-III coach of the train. She told police that her attacker tried to outrage her modesty when she had gone to the toilet after the train left Ara station. She struggled hard to come out of his clutches and in the process jumped off the train when it slowed down near Jagjiwan Halt, near Ara. Danapur divisional railway manager L. M. Jha said the woman shifted to Patna and discharged on 5th January. Anxious family members of the Darjeeling girl  along with a three member team of Darjeeling Police went to Patna and brought back to her hometown on 6th January. On the same day she was hospitalized in a nursing home at Siliguri for further treatment.

Anoop Rai