CRPF Jawan held for sexual assault on schoolgirls

Bhopal: A CRPF jawan was on Wednesday arrested on the charges of molesting tribal schoolgirls during a cultural programme that was held recently in Palnar village under Chhattisgarh’s south Bastar district of Dantewada.

The co-accused in the case is absconding, the Bastar police has said. While one of the accused, Shamim Ahmed, has been arrested, the other accused, Neeraj Pondawal, fled to Uttarakhand after the incident, the police said. Both were from 221 battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

The incident occurred when the students of the Palnar tribal girls’ school had organised a cultural programme to tie the sacred thread to the CRPF jawans, invited for the occasion, on Raksha Bandhan on August 7.

The two accused allegedly barged into the bathroom of the school, and molested some girls. The police sprang into action when 20 students of the school lodged a complaint, alleging their molestation by the two accused. Later, the victims were shown the pictures of all the jawans who attended the programme. They identified the two from their photographs, according to the CRPF inspector general, Raipur, D.S. Chouhan.

“We handed over one of the accused to the police after he was identified by the victims, and have launched a manhunt to arrest the other one,” Mr Chouhan said.