Assam Congress leader arrested on rape charges

A couple days after Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi pledged to focus on ensuring security and welfare of women and girl child in Assam in the wake of ghastly Delhi-bus rape of a student and her subsequent death, a senior leader of his party (Congress) was Thursday arrested by Assam police on charges of rape.

A leader of ruling Congress from lower Assam's Bodoland Territorial Council, Bikramsingh Brahma, was Thursday arrested by police on charges of rape on the basis of an FIR filed by a woman.

The victim accused the Congress leader of outraging her modesty after breaking into her house on Wednesday night at Salbari in Chirang district of Assam. As the woman raised hue and cry after the accused barged into her house, villagers caught hold of the Congressman aged around 60 years, beat and stripped him before handing him over to police.

A senior police official confirmed that Brahma had been arrested on charges of rape. The arrested Congress leader is the chief coordinator of the party in the BTC area. He was the party's candidate from Sapaguri assembly constituency in Baksa district in the BTC in 2011 assembly election which he lost.

The arrest of one of its prominent leader in lower Assam areas has caused embarrassment to the ruling Congress party. Chief Minister Gogoi while condemning the incident said that he was happy that the accused had already been arrested.

Gogoi said, "I have instructed the police to make proper investigation into the case to ensure exemplary punishment to the guilty. My government is not going to spare anyone committing such heinous crime, even if he/she belongs to the Congress party."

Meanwhile, police suspected that the accused Congress leader had been sexually abusing the woman for several months in lieu of benefits under government welfare schemes.