New Delhi, January 07: Two sisters from the North East (Manipur) were molested by hooligans numbering at least 25 at Gandhi Vihar, New Delhi on January 5.They along with their young brother were also severely beaten up by the culprits after the molest.

Despite the seriousness of the crime Timapur police station at first refused to lodge a First Information Report (FIR).

The FIR was lodged after an agonising delay of 40 hours, said NE Support Centre and Helpline.

A late evening news said that one Sub-Inspector has been placed under suspension in connection with the refusal to lodge the complaints of the victims.

The action of the police however came after the matter caught the attention of the media, said a the Support Centre.

A Fact Finding Team of NE Support Centre & Helpline rushed to the spot to extend the help and gave trauma counseling to the victims.

According to a PTI report from New Delhi one teenaged boy, who was reportedly involved in the case was arrested today.

The boy, a 16 year old, was arrested after the victims identified him.

The incident occurred while 18 year old Priya (name changed), the younger of the two, taking coaching classes for Medical Entrance, was returning from the near by vegetable market at around 7.30 pm when two men followed her and passed vulgar comments.

One of the two men is identified as Chinky from the same locality.

Priya narrated the incident to her 20 year old sister Manju (name changed) who runs a cyber cafe on lease While both the sisters were inside the cyber cafe along with their 17 year old brother, Chinky and his friend continued to tease them by passing lewd comments.

Despite the taunts, the sisters igored them, but Chinky and his friend continued to abuse them.

Not taking things lying down, Manju slapped Chinky.

Thereafter Chinky and his friend threatened the two girls and left.

Later Chinky sent a group of 25 men around 9.30 pm and molested and beat up the sisters and their young brother.

The sisters and their brother suffered injuries on the face, hand and leg.

Immediately one boy from the North East who witnessed the incident rang up the NE Support Centre & Helpline and instruction were given to ring up the Police Helpline 100.The cops came after 30 minutes after the incident and later the victims were taken to Timapur police station.

The two girls and their brother told the NE Support Centre & Helpline that their complaints were not registered by the police officer on duty.

Rather the girls were told to first identity the culprits for the FIR to be registered.

The police station did not have women police when the victims were taken there and no medical treatment was provided to the injured victims.

The Fact Finding Team have sought to approach higher authorities to book the accused.

With the police refusing to note down their complaint, the victims had to seek help from the media.

The victims also informed NE Support Centre & Helpline that the police verbally abused them for informing the media.

Manju hails from Moreh in Manipur .

After completing her Graduation in Science she was running a cyber cafe in Gandhi Vihar on lease to support her sister and brother who are taking coaching classes to study Medicine and Engineering.

This was not the first time that girls from the North East have been molested at Delhi.

On December 23 last year, NE Support Centre & Helpline was informed that a girl from Manipur working as a receptionist in a private company was molested by her boss in the office.

A minor NE girl in Gurgaon is yet to recover from the trauma after she was molested three times last December by the landlord.

Police initially refused to take the complaint, A case was registered against the culprit only after the matter was taken to the higher authority.

by the house owner.

Police initially refused to take the complaint, A case was registered against the house owner only after the matter was highlighted to the higher authority.

However till the time of filing report, the accused is still roaming free and all the personal belongs of the victim have been kept under the custody of the house owner.

Nearly 50% of sexual assault happens in Delhi .

North East Support Centre sees it as serious concern for the safety of the community from North East India.

The finding of NE Support Centre & Helpline is that the main reason behind targeting North East people in Delhi is the mindset of the people.

"The North East people as citizens of India, should not be treated differently just because they look different".

In most of the cases, police do not take complaint at first approach and complaints are registered only after the matter reaches the hgher authority.

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