Youth body, student groups protest ‘police inaction’

The alleged police inaction in the Gaya gang-rape case stirred up protest on Saturday at Gandhi Maidan in the state capital even as student groups, AISF and ABVP, resolved to take out march on Monday to mount pressure on police for the arrest of the accused.

The Gaya police have been facing allegation of covering up the gang-rape of a 17-year-old girl as one of the accused is said to be a relative of DIG rank officer. Six men are accused of raping the girl at Manpur under Muffasil police station limits in Gaya on July 29.

As per the rape survivor’s statement, after July 29 incident, she was again abducted and raped for 10 days.

Scores of people, mainly youth, under the banner of the Yua Shakti warned of intensifying their protest if the accused were not arrested. Addressing the people, Yua Shakti district president Om Yadav said that crime against women were on the rise in Gaya due to police inaction.

The victim had lodged an FIR with the Muffasil police station on August 10 but the police so far failed to arrest the named accused, said Yadav. “We will further intensify our agitation if the police fail to ensure immediate arrest of the accused,’’ the Yua Shakti leader said.

Meanwhile, the All India Student Federation (AISF) and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) have also resolved to take out a march on Monday in protest against the move of the Muffasil deputy superintendent of police for “dilly-dallying approach” of the police.

AISF state vice-president Kumar Jitendra said, “We have decided to take out ‘Akrosh march’ on Monday to mount pressure on the Gaya police for action against the accused persons named in the FIR. The students can never sit idle and the state government will have to face the wrath of the students’’. Jitendra pointed out that despite registration of case and identification of the rapists, the “accused persons have been enjoying patronage of the Muffasil police for the reasons known to all”.

The ABVP, on the other hand, has chalked out action plan on Saturday to ensure justice to the victim. “The accused persons hail from affluent families. One of the accused and the kingpin claims to be relative of a DIG rank police officer, posted at the state police headquarters. He also used to sit with the Muffasil police personnel even after registration of the FIR against him and his friends. More than 25 days have passed after lodging the FIR, but not action has been taken against the accused. What has further caused our concern is the fact that the Muffasil police have not yet visited the crime scene,” said Deepchand, an ABVP leader in Gaya.

Kisan Samaj Party (S) national vice-president Pushpa Kumari also expressed concern the alleged police inaction. She said she would write to the National Commission of Women (NCW) and the Bihar State women’s commission against the dubious role of the Gaya police in shielding the gang rape accused. “We will also meet the state commission for women in Patna and apprise the chairperson of the role of the police in denying justice to the victim,’’ Kumari said.

Muffasil police DSP Ghuran Mandal said, “Police are probing the case properly and no one involved in the case would be spared.” When asked about the delay in arrest of the accused, the DSP remained silent and refused to talk further saying the case was still under investigation.

First Published: Sep 08, 2019 12:39 IST