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| Tamphasana Girls’ HS School students protest in Imphal on Thursday. Picture by UB Photos |
Imphal, Oct. 25: Students of Imphal city’s Tamphasana Girls Higher Secondary School today went on a rampage, skipping classes and blocking a city road to protest the alleged rape of one of their classmates by a police commando.
Manipur home minister Gaikhangam assured a delegation of the schoolstudents that strong action would be taken against the culprits.
Police commando driver Yumnam William, 28, allegedly raped the Class XII student of the school after spiking her drink at an Imphal restaurant last Saturday.
Police said William, helped by his friend, Thongam Tarun, 27, abducted the girl while she was on her way to school in a car.
They forcibly took the girl to a city restaurant, made her consume spiked cold drink and raped her while she was unconscious.
Following a complaint lodged by the victim’s mother, Nirmala Devi, with the Lamphel police station in Imphal West, the police swung into action. With the police hot on their trail, the two surrendered the next day.
A group of angry students damaged the restaurant, a day after the incident and demanded action against the owner of the restaurant.
The two accused are now in the custody of Lamphel police station, the police said. However, no action has been taken against the restaurant owner.
Tamphasana Girls Higher Secondary is a premier school of Manipur. The students launched the agitation as the school reopened today after the Puja holidays.
As soon as the school started this morning, all the students came out of their classes and gathered at the school gate blocking Jail Road. The school is at a distance of barely 100 metres from the gate of Raj Bhavan.
The agitators held placards demanding punishment of the culprits.
They demonstrated at the gate of school shouting slogans and started marching towards the office of the home minister.
After a brief scuffle, the police stopped the march and herded them inside the campus. The police, however, allowed the delegation to go ahead and meet the home minister.
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