A young mother of two was stripped, beaten and paraded on the busiest street of Patna, the Exhibition Road, for over two hours on July 23 evening by half a dozen men. No doubt, a very shameful incident. But what is more shocking is that this incident took place within a kilometre of two police stations of Bihar’s capital – Gandhi Maidan and Kotwali – and a few furlongs from the residence of the woman Senior Superintendent of Police.
As if that was not enough. The Additional Director General of Police, Neelmani, who is likely to take over as the DGP of the state on August 1, made a bizarre statement. In the beginning he denied the report of misbehaviour with the woman though the television channels telecast the incident and the following morning the newspapers made it their lead story. Then he went on to claim that the woman was engaged in the flesh trade – as if those involved in this trade should be paraded naked on the streets of Patna. How can a high ranking police official make this claim to the media just after the incident and how will he prove it? Isn’t he aware of the law of the land and what is the chief minister doing? These are some of the questions which outraged the people in general and women groups in particular.
But then this is Nitish Kumar’s Bihar, where according to All India Progressive Women’s Association “women and schoolgirls are being abducted practically every day. And instances of eve teasing are rising with each passing day.” Another women’s body, All India Democratic Women’s Association charged that under the Nitish Kumar government atrocities on women have “increased by leaps and bounds. Murders, rapes, abduction of girls, and women are everyday occurrences. It appears that the police, feudal elements, and anti-social elements now have a licence to misbehave with women.”
These are not just the outbursts of the opposition politicians but well-known women rights groups. Yet within 20 hours of this incident another woman, 50 years old Bindu Devi, was publicly beaten and virtually stripped while she was returning from Durga temple. She was charged with stealing a few coins from the temple’s donation box. While the victim repeatedly pleaded that she in fact donated the coins, the priest of the temple, R.N. Jha, claimed that he had noticed that she picked the coins. It was upon this that the women present there started beating her and in the process ripped her clothes apart. The male members of the society simply looked on.
In the second case the police arrived after the ailing husband of the victim, Ram Naresh Prasad, a casual worker, lodged a complaint with the Agam Kuan police station of Patna. Incidentally, newspapers carried the photo of the second incident too, which took place only four kilometres from the first one.
In the third incident on the same day (July 24) a male mukhiya brutally assaulted a Dalit woman, Shanichari Devi, when she demanded ration and kerosene coupon from him as she comes from a BPL family. This incident occurred on the outskirts of Patna under Parsa Bazar police station.
The media may try to paint a rosy picture of Bihar but the fact is that the state has been taken by storm by the criminals, especially after the recent parliamentary election. Lynching of people simply on the ground of suspicion is taking place almost every week in the state. In the last couple of years about 100 people have lost their lives in such cases of mob justice. In one such incident on September 13, 2007 night 10 people were killed by a mob on the plea that they were criminals. In many such cases of lynching, innocent persons, and not the actual thief or criminal, have lost their lives.
Lynching is not a new phenomenon and not confined to Bihar. But nowhere so many lives have been lost in such a small duration. People have resorted to mob justice because the government has adopted a new strategy to show to the world that the crime rate has come down. Police have been instructed, of course verbally, not accept FIRs of the crimes taking place. Left with no option, the mobs have started settling their own scores.
However, the first two incidents of women being paraded naked in the heart of Patna with the police not coming to their rescue can in no way be defended. In the first case some local people of Exhibition Road did intervene. Ironically the police did arrive after half an hour but did nothing for more than an hour to save the honour of the young woman. They just watched the ghastly drama. It was only when some people tried to intervene that the police moved.
The victim later told the police that her husband works as a carpenter in Kolkata and that she came from Jasidih in Jharkhand in search of a job. It is in this connection that she met Rakesh, the main accused, who took her to a hotel and along with her friends tried to molest her. When she tried to flee from the hotel, she was caught on the road by them, beaten and stripped naked. While beating, Rakesh and friends shouted that she was a sex-worker. And it is on the version of this criminal that the Additional Director General of Police declared that the woman was engaged in flesh trade. Well done Bihar Police!