PATNA: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has served notice on Bihar chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh after the alleged gangrape and murder of a 15-year-old Dalit schoolgirl outside a state-run school.
The body of the class ten student of Ambedkar Government Girls High School at Dighi Mazirabad in Vaishali district was found in her hostel on January 8. It was alleged that she was gangraped in the hostel and then brutally killed with sharp weapons.
The human rights commission has asked chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh to file a report within six weeks on the status of the investigation and the steps taken by the state government.
Members of the National Women’s Commission (NWC) visited the school for an investigation and concluded that the girl was sexually assaulted before being killed. The women’s commission accused the state police of laxity in investigating the allegations.
The victim’s mother, Kusumi Devi, had alleged that the girl, who was the school’s sportsperson of the year, had told her that she was being sexually harassed by a teacher. Women who had seen the girl’s body on the hostel premises said there was no cloth on her and that the lower half of the body was full of blood. According to Kusumi Devi, the rapists slashed the girl’s breasts, throat, back and abdomen with a sharp weapon and stuffed an undergarment in her private parts to stop the bleeding.
Kusumi Devi also said a senior police official visited her house and offered her Rs 8 lakh to keep quiet. “I refused to accept the money. I am poor, but I am ready to fight for justice for my daughter,” she said.