Assam: Man arrested after girl commits suicide
GUWAHATI, June 9, 2018: Ramani Barman, managing director of Indian Institute of Research and Development for Differently Abled, was arrested on Friday evening on charges of sexually assaulting a differently-abled girl, who committed suicide on Thursday evening.
Barman, former joint registrar of Gauhati University, was arrested after the 22-year-old girl's parents, from lower Assam's Baksa district, filed a complaint against him at Jalukbari police station.
Sources said the girl, who worked as a cook at the institute, was found hanging in her room on the campus.
"Barman was apprehended based on circumstantial evidence and the statement of a witness after the victim's parents filed the complaint. Investigations are under way and he will be produced in court by Saturday," Jalukbari assistant commissioner of police Ponjit Duara said.
A family member of the victim said, "When we saw her body we suspected murder and filed the case."
An officer of Jalukbari police station, Aditya Deuri, said, "The girl committed suicide around 5pm on Thursday and we came to know about it around 7pm.
"Barman reported the suicide on Thursday evening and the victim's parents filed a complaint against him, alleging sexual assault, on Friday morning. The post-mortem has been carried out and the body handed over to the parents."
Before being picked up by the police, Barman told the media, "The girl was behaving abnormally for the past few days. A few days earlier, her parents took her home on our request but she returned to the institute after a few days. On Thursday evening, we found her hanging in her room and immediately reported to the police. She was a cook at our institute and worked for us for about two years."
Barman, booked under Sections 344 (wrongful confinement for 10 or more days), 376 C (intercourse by superintendent of jail, remand home), 302 (punishment for murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of IPC, used to run the institute on a voluntary basis.
