Patna: A group of schoolgirls was beaten up by local villagers for protesting against sexual harassment by local youth in Bihar’s Supaul district, dealing yet another setback to the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government that is facing attacks over rising cases of crime against women.
Police said over 40 schoolgirls who were injured in the attack were later admitted to a local hospital for treatment. The district administration also claimed that “one person has been taken into custody. Others involved in the case have also been identified and will be arrested soon”.
Sources from Supaul informed this newspaper that youths from a nearby village used to pass lewd remarks and write vulgar comments on the school wall about girls. On Saturday, over two dozen local villagers ransacked the school and thrashed the girls when they tried to raise their voices against the harassment.
“Girls were beaten up by villagers while they were playing on Saturday. The villagers were furious because these girls tried to raise their voices against the harassment they faced on a regular basis,” school sources said.
The issue has snowballed into a political controversy as Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday blamed the state government for its failure in maintaining law and order in the state.
In a tweet, he said that anti-social elements ransacked the Kasturba Gandhi Girls School in Supaul and thrashed 34 students. “The state government is silent and the crime graph is rising in Bihar.”
He further said that “this kind of incident keeps happening because Chief Minister personally interferes and ensures that rapists and perpetrators get a free run. In majority cases, his partymen, lawmakers and office-bearers are main culprits. Honest officers who have been taking action against them are often transferred.”
Earlier this year, cases of sexual abuse inside several government-funded shelter homes had rocked the state.
In a shelter home in Muzaffarpur over 34 minor girls in their statement to the police said that they were raped by officials and employees of the facility.
In another case, around 15 minors living in Bodh Gaya monastery were molested by a monk.
