Assam: 3 sisters stripped and assaulted at police outpost, 2 cops suspended

Two cops, including a woman constable, have been suspended for allegedly torturing three women in police custody in Assam's Darrang district.

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal suspended Officer in-charge of Burha police station Mahendra Sarmah and Constable Binita Boro following a complaint filed by three sisters with Darrang Superintendent of Police on September 11 alleging that they were tortured and stripped by the police in custody on September 6.

According to a report in The Indian Express, Assam DGP Kuladhar said, the outpost in-charge sub-inspector Mahendra Sarma and a woman constable Binita Boro were suspended on Tuesday and criminal cases were registered against them. He has also asked for an inquiry into their allegations within a week.

According to the complaint, the police had detained the three sisters based on an FIR filed by a girl's family that their brother had eloped with their daughter earlier on September 6. The sisters were allegedly beaten black and blue and also stripped by the police in custody. The torture led one of the sisters, who was pregnant, to deliver a stillborn baby. They were released by the police the same evening after the boy surrendered with the girl.

The women later alleged in a complaint to the police superintendent that they were assaulted and tortured by the in-charge of the police outpost, Mahendra Sarma and had been wounded severely.

The medical examination of the women had been carried out and the report is yet to be received, the Darrang district superintendent of police Amrit Bhuyan said.

"If the inquiry points to use of excessive force, then necessary action will be taken against the police official," he added.