GUWAHATI: A 14-year-old girl in Assam's Nagaon district, who was gang-raped on August 22, had chillingly asked her aunt just two days before, "Aunty, what is rape?"
She had been reading about the horrific attack on a trainee doctor in Kolkata when she asked the question, her aunt told India Today NE.
She said that she felt "shattered" when this incident happened, wondering how such a heinous thing could happen there. She felt that she had failed in protecting her niece.
She also informed that her niece wants to become a DSP and that the girl had spoken to the visiting DSP at the hospital and even smiled at him despite everything.
The girl was assaulted just 1 km from her home in Dhing, Nagaon, on August 22 while returning from her tuition classes. She used to stay with her aunt and grandparents and generally returned either with her aunt or by rickshaw.
However, she had gone for tuition on her bicycle, and on the way back home at about 6 pm, three miscreants assaulted her in a forest area, about 1 km from her home.
The locals found her lying unconscious in the forested area and immediately sent her to a local hospital.
The incident has evoked a bandh call across Assam, seeking justice for the Class IX girl and stringent punishment to the attackers.
The girl's aunt told the police that her father stays at Guwahati and, due to a financial crisis, he sent her to her aunt's place in Dhing. The aunt, earning Rs 10,000 per month, was bearing the educational and other expenses of the girl.
The father said that it was very agonizing to see his daughter lying in the hospital bed, unable to utter a word. He further said that once she recovered, he would probably take his daughter away from Dhing for her safety.
One among the accused, namely Tafazul Islam, reportedly died after jumping into a pond during an attempt to flee from cops. Investigation is going on and police are on the lookout for the remaining suspects.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma termed the incident a "crime against humanity."
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