Meghalaya MLA Julius K Dorhphang who supports the ruling Congress and stands accused of raping a minor girl, was arrested in Guwahati on Saturday morning.

As per this report in DNA, on January 4, a local court issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Dorphang, following which the man hunt began. The Meghalaya Police had issued a look out notice to nab the absconding Independent legislator who was wanted in a sex racket involving a 14-year-old girl.

Dorphang went into hiding after the police booked him under section 366 (A) of the IPC and registered a case with section 3(a)/4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and under section 5 of the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act.

The sex racket came to light after an employee of a guest house owned by senior Congress leader and state Home Minister HDR Lyngdoh’s son was arrested for pimping the victim last month. The victim was rescued from near the guest house and brought to the police station where she named all those involved in the racket. Five of the eight people, including four women named in separate FIRs, have been arrested till date.

Meanwhile, women activists here have demanded that the Chief Minister Mukul Sangma drop Lyngdoh from his cabinet to allow a free and fair trial. Meghalaya is one of 3 North-Eastern states where Congress is in power – Manipur and Mizoram being the other two.

Another report tells us that Dorhphang is the founder-chairman of banned rebel outfit Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC). He gave up arms in 2007 following differences among its leaders. The HNLC is closely linked with two extremist Christian terror groups – the National Socialist Council of Nagaland – Issak Muivah (NSCN-IM) and Tripura based National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), both extremist Christian terror groups

Is Mainstream Media Protecting Congress?

Intriguingly, only DNA has reported that Julius K Dorhphang, though an Independent MLA, supports the Congress, and that women activists suspect involvement of Congress leader and Home Minister HDR Lyngdoh’s son as the sex racket was being run at a guest house owned by him.

We did not find any mention of these two crucial facts in the reports filed by these media houses – LiveMint, FirstPost, Business Standard, The Tribune, New Indian Express.

To understand the double standards at play here, we just have to look at a recent cover story in Outlook magazine “#BetiUthao” (#BabyLift), which screamed that RSS is involved in ‘trafficking’ of 31 tribal girls. That slanderous piece tried to distort tribal Assamese girls being put up in Sangh-managed residential schools outside the state as ‘child trafficking’. The whole left-liberal cabal of Lutyens’ Delhi had gone to town with this fabricated story.

So why isn’t this news of a sex racket being run from a guest house owned by a senior Congress leader sparking an outrage amongst liberals who claim to stand up for women’s rights? Why is it that any negative news related to Congress is reported with extreme circumspection, Sonia & Rahul never held accountable for the actions of their minions, while Modi is hauled over the coals for every alleged indiscretion by a BJP worker?

There is something sick at the core of Indian journalism – in their pursuit to be seen as secular, liberal and progressive, our mainstream media has lost sight of their core job – to report facts as they are, not as journalists would want them to be.

Did you like this report? We’re a non-profit. Make a donation and help pay for our journalism.