Mob harasses Assam dancers into stripping

Five days since the shameful incident in Aosolpara, Chaygaon near Guwahati surfaced, where a dance troupe was forced to strip and molested by a group of rowdy spectators, there are protests across the state demanding action against the perpetrators. The female performers belonged to indigenous communities and on Friday, were scheduled to participate in a special cultural show for Eid.

Police has arrested a couple of accused while the hunt for others was underway after a case was filed on the basis of a complaint registered by the cultural troupe against the organisers of the programme.

Meanwhile, state social welfare minister Brahma on Wednesday condemned the incident and said, "I had conducted a meeting with the State Women Commission and DGP. I condemn this incident and assure that immediate action will be taken. These incidents keep happening from time to time repeatedly, being a women I am shaken by this and I assure you we will take steps to sanitise our society."

Reports claim that as soon as the female dancers started their performance, a mob of over 500 men harassed them into stripping and threatened to kill them if they did not comply. The group of dancers called the MK Dance Group had come all the way from Boko to perform.

"There were 42 of us there. We somehow ran out of there on foot and escaped through the fencing," says one of the performers accompanying the troupe.

With inputs from agencies