New Delhi: While the telecast of the Guwahati incident of a mob molesting a teenage girl rippled shockwaves across the country, its impact on the social and political circle is proving to be more fatal with the women's organistion blaming the police for responding late and the Assam Chief Minister slamming mediapersons for not calling the police on time, apparently missing the main agenda in the tug of war.
As the blame game over the heinous crime involving political parties, media and social activists continues to grow, several 'Beasts of Guwahati' still roam free.
Feeling public pressure over the law and order situation in the state, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday said that Guwahati will soon have a commissioner of police to deal with the rising crime graph, especially after last week's molestation incident.
Hitting out at Congress and its government in Assam on their conduct in Guwahati molestation case where authorities have revealed the name and photo of the victim, BJP sought to know how a party headed by a lady was dealing with this issue in such a manner.
"BJP not only condemns the incident but also the totally insensitive way in which the Assam government, the National Commission for Women and the Congress party has handled it. It is something that the nation will have to condemn in no uncertain words," BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said.
Congress shot back at BJP for this criticism. "The problem with BJP is that when they have no issues to appear before the media in the evening briefing, they dig out issues... Those who are in public life must maintain a certain modicum of decency. They must not try to make political issues of human tragedies. This tendency is highly regrettable and should be avoided," party spokesperson Manish Tewari said.
Meanwhile, the Editor-in-Chief of the TV channel that aired the alleged video resigned on Tuesday. Atanu Bhuyan resigned after expressing doubts over an mpartial inquiry into the allegations that a journalist from his network had instigated the incident outside a pub on the night of July 9.
A News Live journalist had filmed the incident and the channel had aired visuals of the teenager being molested in Guwahati. The journalist who filmed the incident has already resigned after he was accused of instigating the mob to molest a girl outside a bar in Guwahati on the night of July 9.
Bhuyan had earlier defended the journalist and the channel's decision to shoot and air the incident. He had said that had they not shot the incident, the molesters would have been roaming scot-free.
Tarun Gogoi admitted the government's mistake of releasing the pictures the the victim, saying it was a mistake. However, he said that the name revealed by The Department of Information and Public Relations was not the real name of the victim.
After the NCW sacked its member Alka Lamba for revealing the victim's identity, the Assam government repeated a similar blunder.
The Department of Information and Public Relations released the name of the victim and photographs of her meeting Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday - a clear violation of the law that says a victim's identity must always be protected and withheld.
The state government later requested the media to not carry the photograph or the name of the victim. This happened even as NCW Chairperson Mamta Sharma apologised to the girl and her family for the lapse in discretion on part of its probe team member Alka Lamba, who has been sacked.
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