Even as the Bihar police filed charge sheet against three caste Hindu youths who allegedly gang-raped five Dalit women at gunpoint, the government on Sunday handed over appointment letters and Rs. 90,000 each as compensation to all the five victims of Wednesday’s incident in Dumaria village. “Within 24 hours of the incident, we arrested all the three accused persons in the case and filed charge sheet within a record 48 hours. We’ve also requested the court for a speedy trial,” Deputy Superintendent of Police Krishna Bihari told The Hindu .
With the filing of the charge sheet, the police investigation had been completed, said another district police official Dhirendra Pandey.
Earlier, all the victim women were produced before the judicial magistrate Pratibha for recording their statement under Section 164 of the Indian Penal Code.
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The victim women will be working as mid-day meal cooks in local government schools. Bhojpur district magistrate Pankaj Paul on Sunday said the women would be posted in schools that are either in their native or adjoining village to allow easy commuting.
Taking a serious note of the incident, Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi — himself a member of the Dalit community — had ordered provision of security and better livelihood to the victims. “There are welfare schemes for the Dalit community which the victim women will be getting in their village.” However, Inspector-General of Police (weaker section) Arvind Pandey has asked Bhojpur SP Rajesh Kumar to ensure immediate payment of the enhanced compensation of Rs.7.5 lakh to the victims under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
On Saturday, a four-member team of the State Commission for Women, led by its chairperson Anjum Ara, visited Dumaria village, which comes under Bhojpur district’s Tarari bloc, and assured the victim women of all help in securing justice.
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The State Human Rights Commission too has taken a suo motu cognisance of the case and sought a report from the government.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML) on Monday called for a district-wide bandh and announced a march from Gandhi Maidan to the Chief Minister’s residence on Friday. “We’ve also demanded the dismissal of the Tarari police station in-charge and the suspension of the Bhojpur SP and DM,” said CPI-ML leader Pravej Kumar.
On Saturday, local Rashtriya Janata Dal MLA Bhai Dinesh led a protest march in Bhojpur town while Rashtriya Lok Samata Party leaders announced plans to stage a daylong dharna at the district headquarters on Wednesday.
The October 8 rape occurred after the five Dalit women went to a scrap shop in Kurmuri, a neighbouring village. The shop owner, Nilneedhi Singh, who is said to be the area commander of the banned caste militia Ranvir Sena, allegedly detained the women till night and raped them along with two of his associates, Jai Prakash Singh and Jaggu Pandit.