INDIA: 5 SIT-UPS IS PUNISHMENT FOR RAPING GIRL, 5, IN BIHAR VILLAGE (VIDEO)

Sun 27 November 2022:

In a viral video from Bihar, a man is seen doing sit-ups in front of a crowd. Five sit-ups were his “sentence” for allegedly raping a five-year-old girl.

The video is from a village in Bihar’s Nawada district.

The man allegedly took the child to his poultry farm with the promise of chocolates and raped her. When the man was caught and produced before the village council, or panchayat, the elders decided not to turn in him and pronounced their own verdict. The man was not guilty of rape, they decided. They only punished him for taking the girl to a secluded spot.

A video of the “punishment” has sparked outrage on social media, with many calling it out as proof of patriarchy and skewed justice in rural India.

According to a local police officer who did not wish to be named, the girl narrated her ordeal to her uncle upon her return home. Family members wanted to lodge an FIR (first information report), said the officer.

The officer went on to add that before the family could file a police complaint, the accused approached a former mukhiya (village head) of the Kannauj village panchayat, asking for help.

India: 5 sit-ups is punishment for raping girl, 5, in Bihar village

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A meeting of the panchayat was then called, allegedly at the insistence of the former mukhiya, where the accused was told to do five sit-ups as punishment for the alleged crime and let off. Members of the panchayat also persuaded the girl’s kin not to approach the police by saying that it would bring ill repute to the family, the local police officer told ThePrint.

Both the girl and the accused identify as economically backward classes (EBCs). The minor hails from the Barhi caste, while the accused is a Kumhar.

The officer added that the police are yet to receive a formal complaint from the girl’s family and the FIR, in this case, was lodged unilaterally by the police upon taking cognizance of the video of the accused doing sit-ups. “We will take action against panchayat members if their names crop up during the investigation,” said the officer.

Users flagged the video to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav, demanding to know whether the state government would allow the crime to go unpunished.

Superintendent Of Police Gaurav Mangla said that an FIR has been registered and action will be taken against the accused. The police are also investigating those who tried to suppress the incident, he said.

Bihar witnessed a 16.8 per cent surge in cases of crime against women registered across the state in 2021 (17,950), compared to 15,359 in 2020. However, this included 786 cases of rape — down from 806 the previous year. This figure stood at 1,075 in August this year.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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