Woman dies, 5-year-old daughter in hospital after house set ablaze at Arwal

PATNA: A 29-year-old woman from a Dalit family died while her five-year-old daughter is battling for life at a hospital after their house in Arwal district of Bihar was set ablaze miscreants late Monday night, police said, adding that the key accused in the case, who had allegedly molested a female member of the family earlier, has been arrested.

According to police, four members of the family were inside when their house in Chakia village was torched.

While Suman Devi (29) died due of burn injuries on Tuesday, her five-year-old daughter is undergoing treatment at the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH).

Suman’s sister-in-law Aarti Devi told reporters that she woke up around 12.30 am when she heard the crackling sound of burning bamboo. When she came out of room, she found miscreants had set the house on fire after locking one of the rooms from the outside.

According to Aarti, she had an altercation with one Nand Kumar Mahto on Sunday evening when he tried to molest her and he had threatened her with dire consequences.

She said the local police station, barely 400 metres from her house, had refused to lodge a case against Mahto when she made a verbal complaint.

Inspector general (IG) of police (Magadh range), M R Nayak, said Mahto (32) has been arrested and Arwal superintendent of police (SP) was camping in the village to contain the situation.

The officer said a case has also been lodged against two other persons named by Aarti.

According to police, Suman’s husband Ramjit Paswan was arrested on November 20 on the charges of liquor smuggling. His brother Ajit was not at the house at the time of the incident.

Arwal SP Himanshu Shankar Trivedi said, “Preliminary suggests Aarti was the main target but she survived as she was sleeping in another room.”

Meanwhile, LJP (Nationalist) chief and union minister Pasupati Nath Paras demanded that the accused be punished through trial in a fast-track court. He also demanded resignation of chief minister Nitish Kumar.

Chirag Paswan, president of LJP (Ramvilas), said the chief minister was patronising the accused involved in the incident.