A girl was allegedly harassed by a group of youths on a bypass road in Samastipur in broad daylight, with a video purportedly showing her being pulled by her hair and subjected to abusive remarks. The development comes days after a video of two teenagers who were stopped, assaulted and allegedly molested on the outskirts of Jamui drew outrage and became a political flashpoint.
The latest incident took place a few kilometres from the Samastipur district headquarters. According to police sources, the girl had stopped to take photographs while travelling with a boy when three men surrounded her and began harassing her.
The video, purportedly recorded at the spot, shows a youngster holding a woman’s hand and pulling her while another holds her by the hair and tries to click a photo as the woman struggles to break free. The men are also heard asking the woman her name and are seen dragging her as she resists.
Samastipur Superintendent of Police Arvind Pratap Singh told The Indian Express that four suspects were arrested and questioned, with efforts ongoing to identify the others.
“This is a sensitive matter, and the police are conducting an inquiry,” the SP said.
SP Singh told The Indian Express that a video purportedly showing three to four individuals behaving indecently with a girl came to police‘s notice during social media monitoring on the evening of September 23, when it was found to be circulating widely across various social media platforms.
“Given the sensitivity of the matter, technical verification of the video was immediately carried out and the location was identified,” the IPS officer said adding that “the incident appears to have taken place around a week ago”.
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“The girl seen in the video appeared, prima facie, to be a minor,” SP Singh said, “As her identity could not be established immediately, and considering the sensitivity of the case, police registered an FIR on Thursday on the basis of a police officer’s statement.”
The officer said the case was registered at Karpurigram police station under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Information Technology Act.
The SP said all those allegedly involved in the incident were identified and have arrested all four accused within six hours of receiving the alert. Further legal action is being taken, police said. “The four arrested men have been identified as Vikas Kumar, Rahul Kumar, Ram Babu Sahni and Awadhesh Paswan, all residing under the local police station limits,” the officer said.
Meanwhile, Samastipur Police also appealed not to share posts, videos or other content that could reveal the girl’s identity or cause her further mental or social harm. “Sharing such content on social media in a manner that reveals the identity of a minor victim amounts to a cognisable offence under applicable law, and action will be taken on anyone found guilty,” the officer said.
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Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly and RJD national working president Tejashwi Yadav taking on X alleged that the public molestation of a minor girl by youths in Samastipur is direct proof that law and order has completely collapsed in BJP-ruled Bihar.
“Now, the shameless minister will shrug this off too by calling it a stray incident. When the Chief Minister of the state has a criminal mindset, honoring criminals based on their caste, it’s inevitable for such anarchy to arise in that state,” he wrote.
He further added, “Now, the caste-expert Chief Minister will take action only after checking the criminals’ caste, or will suppress the case. Then, Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi will find some kinship in it. Shameful!”
The incident comes days after the alleged molestation of a minor girl in Jamui. Videos from the incident show a group of men surrounding two teenagers on a bike, with the girl being allegedly molested and the boy assaulted. The incident became a political flashpoint, with an FIR registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
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Two — Nandan Yadav and Hareram Yadav — have been arrested, while three minors have been detained. Yadav was also injured during a police encounter earlier this week, with police claiming he was resisting arrest.
