Nine arrested for beating girls in Bihar school

Patna: Nine accused, including a woman, were arrested on Monday for allegedly beating up 40 girl students who had resisted sexual harassment by youth in Bihar’s Supaul district.

Reports from Supaul suggest that most of those arrested by the police are minors. FIR against nine persons was registered on Sunday after school warden approached the police.

Sources familiar with the case said that “the police had initially detained a minor boy who was one of the accused in the case. Later, more accused, whose name figured in the FIR, including a woman from a nearby village, were also taken into custody”.

On Saturday, around 40 girls — all aged between 10 and 14 years — were admitted to a government hospital in Triveniganj for treatment after they were badly beaten up by a mob of over two dozen people in Supaul district.

Sources said that local villagers attacked these girls after they tried to raise their voices against the boys of neighbouring school who were in the habit of passing lewd remarks and writing vulgar comments on the wall.

According to the police, “Both the schools have a common playground. Few girls after spotting boys from neighbouring school building writing vulgar comments tried to raise their voice against them which infuriated their parents who teamed up with local villagers and later attacked these girls while they were playing in the evening”.

Supaul DM Baidyanath Yadav said that around over 20 girls were released from the hospital after they were administered first aid while others with serious injuries are likely to remain under treatment for one or two days.

The Opposition parties on Monday blamed the state administration for its failure in maintaining law and order in Bihar.

According to RJD spokesperson Akhtarul Islam, “Stern action is needed to control rising crime against women in the state. The current scenario clearly shows that people have lost their faith in the law. Supaul incident exposes the face of police and the state administration. Our party believes that the local administration is trying to save a few people who have been involved in the case”.