Feb 18 rape, murder: hearing in Oct

Staff Reporter DIMAPUR, AUGUST 29 THE District and Sessions Court, Dimapur on Thursday deferred the first hearing, in connection with the brutal rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl in Lengrijan colony on February 18 last, to sometime in the first week of October. The precise date for the next hearing could not be confirmed till the filing of the report. The court’s hand was forced partly due to the inability of one of the accused to “engage” a defense counsel for himself on Thursday, and also because of a plea for more time to “collect documents” from the lawyers fighting for the case of the remaining two accused persons. Dimapur police had, in August first week, filed charge-sheets against three persons, including the victim’s maternal aunt Aten Chiru, another relative Renduieng Chiru and a neighbor by the name Arif Hussian. The victim, who originally hailed from Waithau village under Senapati district in Manipur, was living with her aunt at Aokong ward in Firing Range, Dimapur. The other “relative” 52-year-old Renduieng Chiru, was arrested after he tried to impersonate as the victim’s father, reportedly at the behest of the aunt. The main accused, and who as of now has not found a lawyer to represent him yet, Arif Hussian has been accused on double count, murder and rape. Forensic experts have also confirmed that the victim was raped before being murdered brutally. Currently, one of the accused, Renduieng Chiru is on bail and failed to turn up for the scheduled hearing on Thursday. It might be recalled that the February 18 incident, in which the body of a 13-year-old girl was found lying on the porch of Lengirjan Community Hall located just few yards away from Lengrijan Ao Baptist Church, had caused widespread outrage across the state. “Some members of the church discovered the girl’s body lying outside the community hall, just outside the house of worship, at around 6 am while they were on their way to attend the church,” Eastern Mirror had reported of the incident. The victim, a student of class IV, had come to Dimapur to live with her aunt and pursue her academic career.