Dibrugarh, Oct. 12: The army has fought back allegations of molestation during a search operation in a Dibrugarh village this week with a counter complaint against the “victim”.

The company commander of the Lengrai-based 11 Guards Regiment filed the complaint last night at Tengakhat police station, accusing Jyotsna Konwar, her husband and the headman of Tipomia village of concocting the molestation story at Ulfa’s behest.

The same police station registered a case against an unidentified soldier the previous day for allegedly molesting Jyotsna during a house-to-house search for militants at Tipomia.

The investigation began after 5,000-odd people laid siege to the Tengakhat circle office, demanding action against the army.

For the army, which had only recently declared that it was ready to deal a decisive blow to Ulfa, the upsurge was reminiscent of occasions when public protests prevented counter-insurgency operations from progressing in Ulfa strongholds.

The commanding officer of the 11 Guards Regiment, Col Yashpal Singh, told The Telegraph that the army had had enough of “false” allegations. “There should be a limit to everything, we cannot keep on taking blame after blame for acts which we have not committed. Therefore, we have decided to register the case and let the police investigate. We also want the truth to come out at the earliest.”

This is the first known instance of an Assam-based army unit initiating a parallel police investigation into a complainant’s motive.

The officer-in-charge of Tengakhat police station, Mrinal Kumar Das, said the case against Jyotsna, her husband Pratap and village headman Nareswar Gogoi was registered under multiple sections of the IPC, the prime charge being criminal conspiracy. Some more persons were named in the complaint as co-conspirators.

The army said Ulfa was instigating women to hurl false allegations against soldiers and stage demonstrations on national and state highways.

“The prime reason for all these allegations is the sheer dominance and unbearable pressure created by security forces in the region, which has shattered the nefarious designs of Ulfa. Moreover, the recent surrender of seven top Ulfa cadre at the Laipuli army camp, the capture of Prabal Neog (a commander of the 28 Battalion), encounter deaths and arrests in the last six months have left Ulfa in the lurch and in a state of frustration,” it said.