Minor among 4 held in Bihar molestation case

PATNA A CLIP OF THE INCIDENT WENT VIRAL WHICH SHOWED SEVEN MEN TRYING TO STRIP THE 14YROLD GIRL EVEN AS SHE CRIES AND BEGS TO BE LEFT ALONE

: Patna police are on the lookout for a man from Allahabad who allegedly posted the molestation video of a 14-year-old Bihar girl on social media. Police have also arrested four persons, including a juvenile, for their involvement in the crime.

The video shot in Bharathua village of Jehanabad district in Bihar went viral on internet after the man posted it on his Facebook account, which was tracked down by police. The suspect has 30,000 followers, officials said.

“For us, it is important to know how and why the video travelled from a village in Jehanabad to Allahabad and what prompted the man to upload it from his account,” said Patna zone IG NH Khan.

In the video, seven men molest and try to strip the girl while abusing her in derogatory language even as she cries and begs to be left alone. The eighth person in the group was filming the incident.

Khan said after the video came to the notice of authorities, the man removed it from his wall.

“Anybody found circulating the video clip would face stern action. It is unlawful. The girl is a minor,” he said.

ACCUSED CONFESS

Amar Kumar Yadav, Sunil Kumar Yadav, Deepak Kumar Yadav and a juvenile aged 14 have confessed to their involvement in the crime and revealed the names of others involved in the crime.

Of the four, two were seen misbehaving with the girl while the other two were filming the incident on a mobile phone, IG Khan said, adding that police recovered a phone from Amar and found the molestation video in it.

The accused were identified through the registration number of a bike seen in the video. “The bike owner was found to be a resident of Bharathua village under Kako police station limits,” Khan said.

He said cyber experts were roped in to track the sequence of events through the video.

“Some paper cuttings were found at the spot where the video was shot in Bharathua village. Those papers had the name of the girl and school written,” he added.

“The girl is a minor and undergoing counselling,” Khan said, adding that she was in trauma and there was no point talking to her at this time.

“First, she should recover and come out of the shock to be able to talk to police,” he said.

The IG said that Jehanabad SP had received a video clip late on April 28. Soon, a 10-member team was formed to crack the case.

“The task was accomplished within 32 hours,” Khan said. “However, now the police will go deeper into it and track those who procured and posted the videos.”

The incident is the latest in a series of crimes against women and girls reported in the state.

The gender vulnerability index, released by the Union ministry of women and child development last year, rated Bihar as the most unsafe state for women with lowest access to education and protection in comparison to other states.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data for 2017 shows that 13,400 cases of crime against women were recorded in Bihar.