Agartala, September 8 (TIWN): In yet another mystery, the Assam Rifles authorities today denied the report of an AR jawan shooting a tribal lady for denying her sex at Dash Gharia area under Sidhai police station of Mohanpur but said that Mongru Au, the accused jawan was undergoing trial in a special Court of Inquiry set up on the subject.

An official from the Sidhai police station earlier said that the 8 battalion Assam Rifles authority informed the state police that Mongru Aru was injured and was undergoing treatment. A highly placed official in the para-military force said in an official communiqué that the Assam Rifles personnel had gone missing from his post and an immediate search operation was launched to apprehend the individual. He admitted that the jawan might have committed a mistake and was being tried in a high level Court of Inquiry according to the prescribed guidelines. “We shall offer him the severest of punishments if he is proved guilty”, the official said adding that Court of Inquiry is expected to be submitted soon. The Assam Rifles official claimed that the people of Dash Ghariya supported the stationing of an Assam Rifles camp in the vicinity. However, a group of local residents protested the stationing of the camp following the assault on Rashamala Debbarma, a jhumiya woman from the area, and demanded immediate shifting of the camp. Officer-in-Charge of Sidhai police station Manik Debnath earlier stated that the AR officials didn’t hand over the accused jawan to the police. They informed us that the jawan had injured himself during the incident; he is undergoing treatment, Debnath informed. The police said, “We haven’t got him into custody yet”. A senior official of the state police said on being asked about the reason of failure to book the accused that law enforcement agencies couldn’t force the para-military force since Sidhai alongwith twenty-three other police station areas were maintained fully under the coverage of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). Thirty police station areas of the state are currently declared as ‘disturbed areas’ under the Act according the latest revised guidelines issued in June this year.