Patna (India): A teenage girl was allegedly gang-raped at a police station in Bihar, highlighting the prevailing lawlessness in the state. Authorities have suspended six policemen in connection with the incident. As per the report, the victim — a resident of Gopalgnaj district — reached the Chapra railway junction in Saran district on October 29, when the Railway Protection Force (RPF) jawans spotted her.
They took the girl to to a child welfare organisation working at the junction, but it refused to take her in citing the absence of female staff.
Reports said the RPF cops then took her to a woman constable, but she wouldn’t take care of the girl either. Then, the cops allegedly took the girl to the police station at the junction and raped her the whole night inside the post.
The incident came to light after the victim reported the matter to the Child Welfare Committee on Friday. It was only then that a case could be registered with the women’s police station.
Taking the matter seriously, the police have ordered an investigation into the case. “We have registered the case and further investigation is on,” the local District Superintendent of Police Har Kishore Rai told the media on Friday.
Bihar has always been unsafe for women, and more so in recent months, but this incident highlights the shocking fact that they face danger even in places normally considered safe for them.
In July this year, police arrested a school principal and a teacher for gang-raping a grade 9 schoolgirl for months within the school, in the same Saran district. In a terrible twist, the principal’s son was also involved in the gang-rape.
Likewise, 34 girls were allegedly gang-raped at a child care home run by a government-funded non-governmental organisation, at Muzaffarpur town in Bihar. The case is currently being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), under the supervision of the Supreme Court.
Another recent, shocking incident involved a teenage girl allegedly raped by a lawmaker at his residence in Bihar. According to the victim, a middle-aged woman lured her on the pretext of attending a birthday party, but took her to the lawmaker. “He raped me the whole night and made an MMS of the whole act, which threatened to make public if I dared tell anybody,” the victim said in her police complaint.
