FIR registered against Assam PWD engineer in POCSO case, weeks after minor's rescue

Assam Police have registered a case against a Public Works Department (PWD) executive engineer, Santanu Kumar Nath, under the POCSO Act, after the mother of a minor girl who worked as domestic help at his residence in Majirgaon, Azara, filed a written complaint alleging that he raped and sexually assaulted her daughter repeatedly over an extended period.

The FIR was registered at Azara Police Station in Guwahati West district as Case No. 126/2026 on September 3 at 9:30 pm, and invokes Sections 115(2), 64(2)(f), 238 and 351(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, along with Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 — the provision that deals with aggravated penetrative sexual assault. According to the FIR, the girl, whom it describes as approximately 16 years old, had been working at Nath's residence "for a long period," during which he allegedly physically assaulted her, sexually assaulted and raped her repeatedly, and at one point administered her contraceptive medication.

The FIR also alleges that Nath has since tried to suppress the matter by offering money, an allegation that matches the girl's mother's own account of being offered Rs 50,000 to remain silent, and, separately, that he threatened and intimidated her, and obtained the mother's signature/thumb impression on a court affidavit that falsely showed an age different from the girl's actual age.

The girl had told counsellors she had been working as domestic help at Nath's house for the past four to five years before she ran away and was rescued by the Palashbari police outpost, which brought her to the Navajeevan Rehabilitation Home, run by the Assam Centre for Rural Development (ACRD), in the early hours of August 25, for what officers described as her "care and protection." It was there, during counselling, that she disclosed the abuse to the home's superintendent, saying she had been threatened against speaking about it. Her account was also captured in an audio statement recorded that day.

What followed was a stop-start passage through the child-protection system. The girl was placed before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in Kamrup on August 26. Two days later, a sub-inspector from Azara police station was sent to record her statement. On August 29, police took her for a medical examination that did not go ahead; she was moved instead to the Women's Shelter Home in Jalukbari. When she appeared before the CWC in Kamrup Metropolitan on August 31, the committee, having counselled her, indicated it would order an ossification test to establish her age. Through this period, the accused could not be located and had gone underground, according to ACRD, which has been assisting the girl and her family.

As per sources, a Palashbari-based contractor, Phool Baishya, has also been named in connection with the case. The allegations against him are now part of the matters that police have been asked to examine.

Frustration over the pace of the investigation was echoed elsewhere. On September 3, hours before the FIR was registered, the Kamrup District Committee of the Assam Tea Tribe Students' Association wrote to the officer-in-charge of Azara police station demanding an FIR be registered without further delay, along with a fair and prompt investigation and adequate protection for the girl.

India Today NE made repeated attempts to reach Nath for comment, calling the number listed against his name in official correspondence reviewed for this report. His phone was found switched off. This report will be updated if he responds.

The allegations against Nath have not been tested in court. The identity of the minor has been withheld in keeping with Section 23 of the POCSO Act. This is a developing story and will be updated as the investigation proceeds.