AR dismisses Manipur IPS officer's allegation she was molested

The Assam Rifles (AR) has termed a woman IPS officer's allegations that she was assaulted and molested by a rifleman at a Manipur check post as "baseless, fabricated and malicious" and accused her of illegally entering Myanmar and purchasing unidentified goods there.

However, AR assured to investigate the matter and ensure a "free and fair trial".

Based on a written complaint of the IPS officer, police has registered an FIR against rifleman P K Pandey for allegedly physically assaulting and molesting the woman at the Khudengtabi check post in Tengnoupal district while she was returning from the India-Myanmar border on January 19.

 

The state women commission has summoned the rifleman to appear before it on or before January 27 and forwarded the woman's complaint to the National Commission for Women and the Chief Minister's Office.

Chief Minister N Biren Singh has said that as an FIR has been lodged, Assam Rifles has been asked to hand over the rifleman as per law.

"We will take legal actions," he said.

The paramilitary force, in a statement issued on Tuesday evening, said, on January 19, the IPS officer's car had bypassed vehicle scanning and jumped the queue at the check post.

The vehicle was stopped by AR troops and the passengers were asked for their identification which is routine at the check post, the statement said.

"The woman along with her armed male escorts, all in civil dress, started arguing in an ignoble and indecorous language. This was possibly with an aim to avoid checking of unidentified and suspicious stores loaded in the vehicle," it said.

The statement said that despite repeated requests, the woman refused to divulge her identification and told the troops, "Don't you know me?".

She then started clicking pictures which was objected to by Rifleman P K Pandey as photographing such a sensitive check post is prohibited, it said.

It said that two senior Assam Rifles officers had requested her to resolve the matter amicably to which she replied, "Jawan ko mere saamne jhukaake dus joote maaro toh main apology accept karungi (I will only accept the apology if the jawan is hit with shoes)".

The woman officer and her escorts were moving in civil clothes with their personal weapons without any escort vehicle outside her area of jurisdiction, the statement said.

"It is unimaginable that a jawan tried to molest or physically assault an IPS officer. In fact, it is the other way round wherein she was shouting on a jawan...It is a sheer case of misuse of official position, power and arrogance shown by the officer," the statement said.

The AR said it also has video of the woman entering Myanmar and loading her "so-called official vehicle" with suspicious goods.

It said drugs worth more than Rs 500 crore were seized near the India-Myanmar border since January 1, 2019.