Distressing Banka incident ends in dramatic marriage

College student was kidnapped and raped by three shepherds

In crease in the number of rape cases was a major cause for concern for Bihar police with as many as 972 incidents reported across the state in the year.

However, one incident that shocked the state was the Banka rape case which, despite having a distressing start ended on a rather happy note.

The 22- year- old victim, a student from a college in eastern Bihar’s Banka district, had on May 21 gone on a sight- seeing tour to the district along with her boyfriend, when she was kidnapped midway through the journey and gangraped by three shepherds.

Coming close on the heels of the Delhi’s bus gang- rape of a 23- year- old physiotherapy stu- dent on December 16,2012, the incident made headlines, robbing the state government of its sleep.

Immediate arrest

Without wasting any time, the government ordered immediate arrest of the culprits. Multiple raids followed and the police were able to arrest two of the three accused within 48 hours of the crime.

In a dramatic end to this shocking incident, however, the girl’s boyfriend finally married her with the formal consent of the local court, three days after the incident.

“I did this as much out of my love for the girl as to save her life. She would not have lived had I not married her,” was how her boyfriend Chandramani Kumar told the media at that time.

“The case was a challenge for us but we did all that to ensure justice for the victim,” the Banka district superintendent of police Pushkar Anand told the Gulf News on Saturday.