Arrested doctor couple abused ‘adopted’ children sexually: Guwahati Police

PTI, May 8, 2023, 9:06 AM IST

Guwahati: A doctor couple has been arrested in Guwahati for allegedly assaulting two children, including sexual abuse, whom they were claiming to be adopted kids, the police said on Sunday.

Three children, one boy and a girl aged around three years and another boy of about 11 years, were rescued from the residence of the doctor couple.

“After conducting medical examination, it was found that the girl suffered brutal physical abuse as well as sexual assault. The younger boy was also assaulted. The 11-year-old boy looks healthy and a medical examination is going on,” Guwahati Police Commissioner Diganta Barah told a press conference.

The police have slapped various sections of the IPC along with the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO) against the doctor couple and their maid, who has also been arrested, Barah said.

The male doctor and his family’s maid were arrested in Guwahati on Saturday, while his psychiatrist wife, who is frequently seen in local TV channels’ talk shows on mental health, was caught on Sunday while trying to flee from the city, he added.

A local court remanded them to police custody for five days.

“They are being interrogated. We found that the children were not their own, but they are claiming them to be adopted,” the police commissioner said.

However, it is yet to be established whether the three children were adopted by the well-known doctor couple legally.

The arrests of the man and the maid were made on Saturday after photographs of the girl tied to a pole on the terrace of their residence went viral on the previous day.

The doctor’s wife made a video and uploaded it on social media, claiming that a conspiracy was hatched to “defame and destroy” the family.

Later, the Assam Commission for Protection of Child Rights (ASCPCR) took cognisance of the matter and wrote to the civil and police administration to initiate enquiry and take action against the accused.

ASCPCR Chairperson Sunita Changkakoti said the Commission took note of the matter and wrote to the Guwahati Police Commissioner and the Kamrup Metropolitan Deputy Commissioner on Friday evening, seeking details about the incident.

She claimed that the previous wife of the accused doctor had brought similar charges against him of abusing their child a few years back.