In a chilling reminder of the December 2012 crime in New Delhi, three gang-rapes were reported in Bihar earlier this week, the victims being two young married women, in a vehicle and a train, and a minor girl at a village fair. Five persons have been arrested.
In the first incident, a 25-year-old woman was raped in a mini-passenger vehicle near Kindar road in Arwal district on Monday night. According to her statement to the police, she wanted to go to the Arwal court to file a case following a fight with her husband. Two men in the mini-pickup vehicle assured her, at a tempo stand where she was waiting alone around 7 p.m., they would take her to her destination but raped her when the vehicle reached a link road. Passersby raised an alarm and the patrolling police stopped the vehicle. While one of the drivers, Shiv Kumar Chandravanshi, was nabbed, the other, Upendra Kumar, fled the spot, Superintendent of Police Anand Kumar Singh told The Hindu .
The police have recorded the victim’s statement under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code. They are conducting raids to arrest the other accused.
The same night, a 14-year-old girl was raped by three men near Baidrabad in Arwal. She had come to the village fair with a group but got separated from the others. The girl, a resident of Bhojpur district, went home and complained to her family about the incident two days later and it filed an FIR, Mr. Singh said. The police have arrested Babu Singh and Pramod, and are looking for Shri Bhagwan.
In the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, two men raped a woman aboard the Gorakhpur-Muzaffarpur passenger train at a halt near Bagaha in West Champaran district. A case of rape has been filed based on the victim’s complaint. “We are still awaiting reports of her medical examination. Both the accused have been arrested,” Superintendent of Railway Police Vinod Kumar told The Hindu .
