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| Alka Lamba |
New Delhi, July 16: Alka Lamba, a member of the inquiry team looking into the molestation of a Guwahati girl, was today sacked for openly naming the victim at a news conference on Saturday.
Mamata Sharma, the chief of the National Commission for Women that had sent the team, told The Telegraph: “It can’t be a slip of the tongue. There are court directives that forbid her from revealing a victim’s name. We have sacked her because of this.”
Lamba, who returned from Guwahati on Sunday, cut a sorry figure as she tried to defend herself today. She first denied holding a news conference and then went on to claim she hadn’t done anything wrong as the girl’s name “was already in the public domain”.
“Her name has been doing the rounds on news channels for the last 6-7 days. I didn’t do anything wrong,” she told reporters in her office.
The NCW initially distanced itself from her, only saying she was not one of its members. The news of her removal emerged later in the evening.
Sources said she was in the Youth Congress once and had headed the Delhi University Students’ Union and the National Students’ Union of India.
The sources said NCW chief Sharma was miffed that Lamba had spoken to the media before getting back to the commission. Sharma said the inquiry report would go to print tomorrow.
As the dust over Lamba swirled, Assam police told the home ministry that TV reporter Gaurav Jyoti Neog, accused of instigating the molesters and suspected to be a friend of main accused Amarjyoti Kalita, would likely be arrested soon.
“The reporter and Kalita are suspected to be buddies,” a home ministry official said. “Assam police will question the reporter, and if found involved, he will be arrested.”
In Guwahati, chief minister Tarun Gogoi met the girl and offered her Rs 50,000 to set up a business. A Mahila Congress member said the money would be transferred to her account tomorrow as she did not have one. The girl proposes to open a beauty parlour.
A Guwahati SSP was transferred and a sub-inspector suspended in connection with the molestation.
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