A group of women dancers was allegedly forced to strip and molested by a mob of over 500 men during a cultural programme as part of the Eid celebration in Assam's Kamrup district. Five people have been arrested and the search for the other accused is underway after the dance troupes filed a complaint against the organisers of the event.
Assam Social Welfare Minister Pramila Rani Brahma condemned the incident on Wednesday and said strict action would be taken against the culprits. Brahma said she had conducted a meeting with the State Women Commission and Director General of Police Kuladhar Saikia.
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“These incidents keep happening from time to time. Being a woman, I am shaken by this, and I assure you we will take steps to sanitise our society,” she said, according to an ANI report.
The incident happened on June 7 and the victims were members of two dance troupes hired from Boko, 15 km west of Chhaygaon.
Brahma said the state government will take steps to ensure women and child security in the state, and added that the government will launch awareness campaigns with the help of NGOs to educate people so that such incidents do not happen in the future.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Rekha Sharma has asked the DGP to conduct a proper inquiry and take action against the culprits.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party sought to link the incident with the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.
“It never happened in the past that the Assamese girls are forced to strip during a cultural programme on the day of Eid. It's an attack on the people of Assam. The criminal-minded Bangladeshi Muslims are showing their true colours,” said BJP MLA Shiladitya Dev, who also demanded strict action to ensure the safety of the “indigenous” people.
The incident has sparked off an outrage in the state with hundreds of people taking to streets in Boko. According to report in The Hindu, Arup D. Rabha, director of one of the dance troupes, said that the organisers had sold tickets by telling people that they would bring special nude dancers from West Bengal for the programme.