Bihar: Protest in Phulwarisharif Against Alleged Gang Rape of 2 Minor Dalit Girls

Patna: Hundreds of local people, mostly women, on Wednesday staged a protest in Phulwarisharif in Patna to express their anger against the alleged gang rape of two minor dalit girls, demanding immediate arrest of the accused, a speedy trial, and death sentence.

Of the two girls, one succumbed to injuries on Tuesday, while the other one is battling for life at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna.

Both the girls belong to Bihar's most marginalised dalit communities, Mushahar, who are considered the poorest of the poor and mostly live in a ghetto, Mushahar Toli, outside the main villages.

The incident took place on Tuesday near Hinduni village in Phulwarisharif located on the outskirts of Patna.

A day after this horrific incident came to light, angry people took to the streets demanding justice for the victims. Slogan shouting protestors with placards in their hands blocked busy roads, burnt tyres that disrupted traffic for hours and also tried to gherao the Phulwarisharif police station.

Some protestors blamed local police officials for “laxity that resulted in such a crime.”

After the two minor girls went missing on Monday, the mother of one of them said she visited the local police station and sought help to trace them. She told reporters that police officials advised her to search for them first. “Had the police acted on time, both the girls could have been rescued," Madhusudan Kumar, one of the protesters, told Newsclick.

Women’s activist Kanchan Bala said the incident had shocked the poverty-stricken Mushahar community and once again exposed the safety issue of women.

The state government should provide adequate compensation and stern punishment to the criminals involved, she said.

According to Phulwarisharif police station officials, it was some local villagers who informed them that two minor girls were lying unconscious in a field not far away from the road leading to the camp of Indo-Tibetan Border Police. "When the police team reached there, it found one victim dead and another in serious condition. Both were naked", an official said.

The deceased is hardly 8-10 years old and the other girl is 12 years old. Police have sent the dead girl’s body for post-mortem.

It was reported that doctors of AIIMS Patna treating the survivor, refused the police to take her statement in view of her shocked state of mind.

The families of the two minors told local police that both girls had left home on Monday in search of firewood or cow dung for cooking. They failed to return home till late Monday night and were reportedly found lying still in a field by some villager the next day. Both were found without their clothes, the families said.

Police have lodged a case and have begun an investigation. "We are waiting for the post-mortem and medical report to confirm the rape", a police official said.

ASP of Phulwarisharif Vikram Sihag said police have taken help of dog squads and forensic team experts to collect evidence at the incident site.

A fact-finding team of CPI(ML) and AIPWA led by the party leader Meena Tiwary visited the family of the two victims and questioned the negligence of the local administration and demanded the arrest of accused immediately.

"The survivor is critical and undergoing treatment at AIIMS, Patna. The government should arrange proper treatment and safety of her, " Tiwary said.

She alleged that the accused attempted to kill both victims after the gangrape, which led to the death of one girl.

"The much-hyped Ujjawala Yojana of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a total failure. Were it not so, why would poor Dalits (Mushahar) struggle to arrange fuel for cooking? Both the minor girls in this latest case went outside to arrange fuel for cooking. The incident has exposed the ground reality -- that dalits are struggling to get fuel for cooking", she added.