Rahul, Tejashwi and the others accused the Nitish Kumar-led BJP-JDU govt
of brushing the October 30 murder under the carpet for electoral gainsRahul,
Tejashwi and the others accused the Nitish Kumar-led BJP-JDU government
of brushing the October 30 crime under the carpet for electoral gains.
The woman from Vaishali district died on Sunday
Rahul’s tweet on Tuesday highlighting the crime and the
perceived apathy of the government set off a chain of events that led to
the arrest of accused Chandan Kumar Rai within hours. His cousin Satish
Kumar Rai and father Vijay Rai are absconding.All the three belong to
the dominant Yadav caste.
The 20-year-old victim, a resident of a
village under Desari police station in Vaishali, had gone to discard
garbage on the evening of October 30 when the three youths allegedly
caught and molested her. She resisted and threatened to complain to her
mother and get the accused thrashed, according to the FIR.The victim
gave her statement to the police the same day. She also said that the
accused had harassed her earlier too. She was later shifted to Patna
Medical College and Hospital when her condition deteriorated.
The
police registered an FIR on November 2, three days after the incident,
but no arrests were made. Bihar was in the middle of elections at that
time and two of the three phases — on November 3 and 7 — were due.
The
woman later succumbed to the burns. Her family members demonstrated
with her body in Patna for some time before returning home. They had
initially refused to bury her till the culprits were brought to book.
The crime had gone largely unaddressed till Congress MP Rahul tweeted about it on Tuesday.
“Whose
crime is more dangerous? Those who indulged in the inhuman act or those
who hid it for electoral benefits so that they could lay the foundation
of their false ‘good governance’ over this mis-governance,” Rahul
asked.
Soon, RJD leader Tejashwi re-tweeted Rahul’s comments, adding:
“Where are those who came from Delhi to look for ‘jungle raj’ in LED
light in Bihar? The nation wants to know who is the ‘maharaja’ of the
jungle raj,” Tejashwi said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said
during the campaign that the days of the lantern, the RJD’s poll symbol,
were over as LED lights had come.
AIMIM parliamentarian Asaduddin
Owaisi, whose party won an unprecedented five seats in Bihar, also tried
to corner the state government.
“Unbelievable cruelty. Prayers for
victim & her family. These men ‘punished’ her for resisting
molestation. It’s been 15 DAYS & there’s still no action. Men like
Satish are emboldened by the fact that there’s never any action.
@NitishKumar where’s your “tough on crime” policy now?” Owaisi tweeted.
Under fire, the police swung into action and arrested two of the three accused.
“We
arrested the main accused, Chandan Kumar Rai, on Tuesday. The other two
also will be arrested soon. All three are related to each other. We
have also suspended the Chandpura police outpost in-charge, V.D. Dubey,”
Vaishali superintendent of police Maneesh told The Telegraph.
The
Vaishali SP said the police were camping in the victim’s village in view
of the law-and-order situation, and that an armed guard had been
provided to her family.
The victim’s mother and younger sister
alleged that musclemen from the village had threatened them with
consequences for approaching the police.
“We are continuously being
threatened by musclemen from the village. We have no faith in the police
as they are also pressurising us to strike a compromise with the
accused. There are around 150 police personnel camping in our village
and they are not allowing us to go outside,” the mother said.
The
family conducted the burial rites on Tuesday after assurances from the
district administration that the accused would be brought to justice.
The CPI-ML has announced that it would hold demonstrations across Bihar on Wednesday.
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