Manoj Chaurasia in Patna
A series of rape incidents have rocked Bihar of late In the
past two days, at least six cases of gang-rape have been reported from various
parts of the state, scaring citizens. Significantly, the ruling Nitish Kumar
government had returned to power after 2010 assembly elections on the plank of
maintaining law and order in Bihar but the present situation appears quite more
alarming as is evident from the total failures by the state administration to
tackle crime against women.
In a fresh incident, a college girl was picked up by three
car-borne youths in Gaya and gang-raped in the ruling vehicle before being
thrown out along the national highway in far-off Kaimur district. The
sensational incident took place in broad daylight on Wednesday while the
19-year-old BA part-I student of Gaya-based Gautam Buddha Mahila College was
way to a coaching centre. On hearing her cries, the local villagers rushed to
the spot and admitted the victim to a local government hospital from where she
was handed over to her parents. She told the police that three youths dragged
her into a SUV and gang-raped her into the running vehicle before being throwing
her out in an unconscious state. The police have arrested two youths in this
connection.
Similar incident was reported from the state capital where a
Nepali girl was thrown out on the busy Bailey Road, considered the lifeline of
Patna, yesterday after being gang-raped for a year. Her cries invited the
attention of the passersby who admitted her to the nearby Rajvanshi Nagar’s
government hospital. She told the police that she had fled her home in Nepal
last year after being chided by her parents but shortly after she reached
Patna, she fell into the sex racket. During her stay in Patna, she was supplied
at 29 different locations of sex racketeers. Police said she had refused
returning her home at Janakpur in Nepal. Meanwhile, the victim has been handed
over to a women helpline.
In another incident reported from eastern Bihar’s Lakhisarai
district, a class VIII girl student of a government middle school was lured by her
school teacher and then raped several times until she became pregnant. The
entire matter came to light when the victim’s parents admitted her to a local
hospital yesterday when her labour pain started. Hurriedly, her parents brought
her to a local hospital but she fainted while riding the stairs and suffered
miscarriage. “The condition of the girl is very serious since she has become pregnant
in a tender age…she is anaemic and urgently requires blood”, a local doctor Dr
Rupa who attended the victim told reporters today.
On Tuesday, the Guwahati molestation incident was virtually
repeated on the streets of Patna when a 24-year-old teacher with a private
school was allegedly molested by a group of drunken youths. The girl screamed
for help but none came to her rescue out of fear of ruffians as she saved
herself by taking shelter inside a roadside house. The girl dressed in
jean-pant was returning home on foot after the duty hours when some three
youths mobbed her and began allegedly molesting her as the onlookers stayed
away from help. One of the passersby who tried to rescue her was brutally
assaulted by the youths. In the meantime police have registered a case against
some persons in this connection. Yesterday, the main accused in the case
surrendered in the court under mounting police pressures, after which he sent
to jail but the increasing cases of sexual assaults on the female class have
terrorised the common men.
These incidents come close on the heels of gang-rape of a
teen-aged girl in Patna by some seven youths who also filmed the entire act on
their mobile phone camera before getting them uploaded on the internet and
circulating them in the market after making their CDs. The incident occurred in
a flat in Rambha Apartment located in the high-security zone of the state
capital where are situated the official bungalows of the chief minister,
governor and senior government official. Reports said using these footages, the
accused forced the girl submit again and again for a month until the CDs hit
the markets and entire story broke. The local media has reported that the
incident occurred in June itself but the police continued sitting over the case
allegedly under pressures from the some big sharks whose wards were involved in
the act. It is alleged son a ruling party lawmaker is involved in the act but
the said lawmaker has denied it.
The police swung into action in July end only after a local
news channel ran the story and telecast a portion of the story after which
women rights groups hit the streets of the state capital and took out late
night “candle march”, seeking action against the accused. Subsequently, the
State Women Commission rushed to the victim and recorded the statement of the
victim after which the case was formally lodged.
The police, though were geared
into action and arrested some of the accused only when the court of the chief
judicial magistrate, Patna while taking suo moto cognizance of the case issued
arrest warrant against the accused. However, the mystery boy Saurabh still
remains out of the reach of the police. The entire issue figured prominently in
the current monsoon session of the state assembly as the Opposition members
vociferously raised the issue and continuously disrupted House proceedings, seeking
for a CBI probe into the incident and punishing the culprits. The government
has assured culprits will not be spared.
