Cigarette Burn Marks Found On Minor Girl Rescued From Assam Doctor Couple’s House: Police

Police said the arrested doctor couple lied that the girl is their biological child. Court sends the duo to police remand, their arrested domestic help to judicial custody.

File Photo of accused couple Dr Walliul Islam and his wife Dr Sangeeta Datta

Source : Pallav Bora

Guwahati: Some startling facts have come to light during the preliminary investigation in the case of a three-year-old child’s alleged abuse by a doctor couple in Assam’s Guwahati. The couple, both arrested along with their domestic help, allegedly kept the child in captivity and her medical examination revealed injury and burn marks on her private parts besides other bruises on other parts of her body, police said.

While it was earlier reported that the minor was the couple’s daughter, the police said the couple had lied about this.  

Related News: Assam Doctor Couple Booked For ‘Abusing’ 3-Yr-Old Daughter. Husband Held, Wife ‘Absconding’

Addressing the media in Guwahati Sunday, Commissioner of Police Diganta Barah said the three-year-old girl child was kept in captivity at Roma Enclave, where the doctor couple stayed. "The minor girl bore injury and burnt marks on her private parts and bruises on several parts of her body. During medical examination, it has been found that the child’s private parts were burnt with cigarettes,” he said.

“Accused Dr Walliul Islam, his wife Dr Sangeeta Datta and their maid Lakshmi Nath have been arrested. The three were produced before the chief judicial magistrate’s court in Guwahati on Sunday and the court sent them to five-day police custody, while Lakshmi was sent to seven days’ judicial custody,” the officer added.

Barah said the doctor couple has been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

According to the police, there were a total of three children in the house — the three-year-old, her twin brother and an older girl.

“The couple lied that they were the biological parents of the fraternal twins. The police have now started their investigation to find out to whom these children actually belonged to and how they came to the doctor couple’s house,” Barah said.

The twins are currently undergoing medical treatment.

“Proper arrangements have been made for the children to get the best medical treatment. Not only the girl child, but the couple used to physically abuse the boy too. He is currently undergoing treatment at the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in the city. The police are now waiting for the final medical report,” Barah added.

The police commissioner said the Assam director general of police (DGP) is personally monitoring the case while Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is also keeping track. “The police investigation is going on at a very fast pace. The reason or intention behind the abuse of the children is yet not clear. We have kept our investigation on to unearth the truth,” Barah said.

Dr Sangeeta Datta Arrested From Meghalaya

The Assam Police Friday detained Dr Walliul Islam, a well-known surgeon in the city, and domestic help Lakshmi Nath from their apartment in Guwahati’s Roma Enclave on charges of abusing the 3-year-old girl for a period of several months. Dr Islam’s wife and co-accused Dr Sangeeta Datta was not at home when the police raided their house based on the complaint of one of their neighbours.

After interrogating Dr Islam and Lakshmi, the police placed them under arrest on Saturday morning and started their search for Datta.

Psychiatrist Sangeeta Datta was later arrested from a house in Meghalaya’s Umsning in Ri-Bhoi district where she was allegedly hiding.

The case against the couple was registered at the Paltan Bazar police station in Guwahati and they were initially booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) related to attempt to murder (307), voluntarily causing grievous hurt (325), wrongful restraint (341), and acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention (34). Later, Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act was also slapped against the couple, which pertains to “any person having control of the child, assaults, abandons, abuses, or willfully neglects the child”.

The shocking incident came to light after child rights activist Miguel Das Queah wrote about it on social media, seeking help from the police to rescue the girl.

According to Miguel’s post, the couple would often tie up the toddler on the terrace of their apartment under the scorching summer sun for several hours.

Following Miguel’s post, a neighbour of the doctor couple lodged a complaint with the Paltan Bazar police, after which the police swung into action.