Dibrugarh, Oct. 15: The woman whose molestation charge against an unidentified soldier triggered an outpouring of anti-army sentiments last week is ready to take back her complaint if the one against her is withdrawn, too.

Police today said Jyotsna Konwar, a resident of Tipomia village in Dibrugarh district, changed her mind about pursuing the case after the army countered it with a complaint against her for allegedly acting at the banned Ulfa’s behest.

But Jyotsna’s willingness to back out has not melted the army, at least not yet.

“The lady and her associates brought certain serious allegations against our unit, which were published in the media. Therefore, we are not going to leave the case. The police have registered a case and we have been informed that the investigation is progressing well. We are waiting for an early result,” Col Yashpal Singh, the commanding officer of the 11 Guards Regiment, said.

Apart from Jyotsna, the army named her husband Pratap Konwar, fellow villager Putuli Phukon and the headman of Tipomia village, Nareswar Gogoi, in its complaint. It accused them of “criminal conspiracy and framing baseless charges against the army”.

The officer-in-charge of Tengakhat police station, Mrinal Kumar Das, confirmed that Jyotsna would withdraw her case if the army did likewise.

“We are trying to find a middle course,” another police officer added.

This is the first known instance of an Assam-based army unit initiating a parallel police probe into a complainant's motive. For the army, which had only recently declared that it was ready to deal a decisive blow to Ulfa, the upsurge triggered by Jyotsna’s complaint was reminiscent of occasions when public protests were stumbling blocks in operations against the militant outfit.

The police registered the molestation case against a soldier named Raju hours after a protest rally in Tengakhat on October 9. Jyotsna, a mother of two, said Raju molested her during a house-to-house search by the 11 Guards Regiment the previous night.

The army immediately clarified that there was nobody by that name in the ranks of the 11 Guards Regiment. The counter complaint came two days later.

In another statement today, the commander of the Tinsukia-based 181 Mountain Brigade, Brig. Binoy Poonnen, said Ulfa and its sympathisers had been inciting protests and false accusations to deflect the heat of counter-insurgency operations and create a gulf between “peace-loving people and security forces”.