The minor girl who was raped by former Mawhati MLA Julius Dorphang is still being looked after by the Child Welfare Committee.
This was stated in the report filed by the Secretary of the State Child Welfare Committee before the division bench of Meghalaya High Court today.
However, the detailed physical, psychiatric and psychological examination of the rape survivor as was directed by the previous High Court order of June 8, 2022 has not been appropriately done.
Following the report, the High Court said that the psychiatric and psychological aspects should be dealt with by experts, in view of the trauma that the rape survivor went through.
“It is also essential that the survivor be counselled as to her career since, despite the survivor being under the care of the Child Welfare Committee, it is reported that she was not interested in studies after completing her Class 6. The survivor has to be made self-sufficient to be able to survive, support herself and live with dignity,” the court said.
While seeking further report on the present condition of the survivor who is now 20 years of age, the High Court said that the quantum of compensation to her will be assessed at a later stage and upon the conclusion of the appeal filed by Dorphang.
It may be recalled that Special POCSO Judge of Ri-Bhoi district, Febroneous Silkam Sangma had on August 13, 2021 convicted Dorphang and sentenced him to 25 years for raping the minor girl in 2017 when he was a legislator. The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 15 lakh on Dorphang.
The POCSO court also sentenced to life imprisonment three handlers of the girl, besides imposing fines of Rs 1 lakh each. Darisha Mary Kharbamon, Mamoni Parveen and her husband Sandeep Biswa were accused of getting the girl for the crime and inducing her to prostitution.
Dorphang was arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged against him by the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) with the East Khasi Hills district police in December 2016, alleging his involvement in an illicit act with a minor.
In January 2017, the SCPCR had filed another complaint in Ri-Bhoi, alleging that Dorphang had committed a similar offence against the same minor at a resort in the district.
On the basis of the complaints, two separate cases were registered against Dorphang, following which he went missing. He was arrested on January 7 from a bus terminus in neighbouring Assam.
Dorphang has been lodged at the Nongpoh district jail since his arrest before the High Court granted him bail on medical grounds last year. He was re-arrested on August 13 after being convicted.
He was the founder-chairman of the Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC). He surrendered in 2007 as HNLC chairman, and in 2013, won the election from the Mawhati seat as an Independent candidate.
