1-yr jail for 3 policemen in Assam for couple's character

A court here today sentenced three policemen including an officer-in-charge to one year rigorous imprisonment in a case of character assassination of a couple and infringement on their private lives.
The chief judicial magistrate of Morigaon also directed the trio - the then officer-in-charge of Morigaon police station Devajit Mahanta, Sub Inspector Anup Saikia and Assistant Sub Inspector Krishna Saikia to pay a fine of Rs 5000 each to the couple.
In case they failed to pay the fine they would have to further undergo another three months of rigorous imprisonment, the judge said.
According to the prosecution, Mazarihul Islam and his fiancee were staying in a house at Phulbar in Morigaon town and on August 17, 2011 a complaint was lodged with the local police station alleging that the couple was involved in anti- social activities.

Mahanta had sent Anup Saikia and Krishna Saikia along with a police team to the spot, it said adding the police team along with some "anti-social elements" called a TV news channel cameramen and forced the couple to undress to make a news item in the electronic media.
Islam claimed that the telecast of news item along with the visuals amounted to the couple's character assassination and infringement on their private life.
The judge held that Mahanta had played a criminal negligence role as his team helped in framing a fabricated news carried by the media.