PATNA: A minor girl was stripped of her clothes and brutally assaulted in Bihar's Begusarai district.
The 16-year-old girl was caught with a folk singer-cum-music teacher in a compromising position late on Friday, following which some locals tore away their clothes and beat them black and blue.
The perpetrators of the crime also made a video of the entire incident and subsequently uploaded it on social media.
The incident took place at a village under Teghara police station in the district.
The music teacher was arrested on the charges of rape of the minor.
A case under relevant sections of the POCSO Act, SC/ST Act and IT Act has been registered based on the statement of the girl. She was later sent for a medical examination.
The police have sent clothes belonging to the girl and the music teacher for forensic examination.
A special team headed by DSP (headquarters) has been set up to probe the incident.
Begusarai Superintendent of Police (SP) Yogendra Kumar said that the culprits would not be spared. He said that Teghra police as well as the women's police station had been asked to take stern action against the perpetrators of crime.
The accused have been identified as Ram Jatan Paswan, Dilip Pandit and Ravindra Thakur, all residents of Pathkaul village in Begusarai district.
None of the three named accused have been arrested so far.
Meanwhile, Opposition leaders attacked the grand alliance government for its failure to maintain law and order.
Union Minister Giriraj Singh said that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and other grand alliance leaders were maintaining a stoic silence over the incident. “How one can expect justice when law and order has been sacrificed for power in Bihar,” he remarked.
Leader of Opposition in Bihar assembly and senior BJP leader Vijay Kumar Sinha alleged that "the present dispensation in their lust for power had made the entire government machinery captive of anarchy." The state government has completely failed to discharge its duties, he claimed.
Reacting to the incident, LJP (Ram Vilas) chief and MP Chirag Paswan tweeted, “The inhuman treatment meted out to a Dalit woman in Begusarai is highly condemnable, it cannot be tolerated at all. The failure of the government to arrest the culprits so far is the result of the administration's biggest failures.”
“I demand from the Bihar government that a thorough investigation and action should be taken in the matter and strict action should be taken against the culprits and a solid message should be given to the society so that no such incident can happen in the future,” he remarked.
The ruling RJD, however, described it as a conspiracy hatched by the Opposition to defame the government.
“Yah Opposition ki sajish hain sarkar ko badnam karne ki (This is the Opposition's conspiracy to defame the government),” said RJD MLA Bhai Birendra.