Bettiah girl’s tormentors still at large

PATNA: The tormentors of an 18-year-old former inmate of the infamous Muzaffarpur shelter home, who was allegedly gang-raped in a moving car at Bettiah in West Champaran district on Friday evening, were still at large even after three days of the incident.
The survivor, who is undergoing treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) at Bettiah, has accused four youths of raping her.
The victim’s father, who worked as a daily wager in neighbouring Nepal, visited the hospital on Monday, but left in a huff. “He was very upset. Panic was writ large on his face,” an employee of the GMCH said and added the family apprehended threat.
Bettiah SP Jayant Kant said, “We are thinking of providing security to the girl’s family. The girl is undergoing treatment under police protection.”
The SP, however, said, “The medical report didn’t confirm what the victim had claimed in the FIR. But we are investigating the case on the basis of her statement and collecting more evidences to corroborate the allegations against the named accused, who are absconding after the incident.”
The medical report has not found any external injury on the victim’s private parts and there was no sign of use of force to commit crime. The report, however, didn’t rule out the possibility of sexual intercourse with the girl with her consent, sources privy to the investigation said.
When contacted, GMCH superintendent Dr Birendra Singh said, “We have already submitted the medical report to the women’s police station SHO, who is also the investigating officer of the case. But I am not supposed to share the findings.”
The police constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to collect scientific evidence and nab the four named accused — Akash Kumar, Raj Kumar, Dinanath Kumar and Kundan Kumar, who are leant to have sneaked into Nepal.
The SP said the girl had got married in October last year after she was reunited with her family in July 2018 on her return from Mokama shelter home in Patna district where the rape survivors of Muzaffarpur Balika Grih had been shifted after the sex scandal surfaced in May last year.
The SP also denied the report in a section of media (not TOI) that she was pregnant. He said an FSL team from Muzaffarpur met with the survivor in the hospital and collected evidences on Monday. “We have also obtained call detail record (CDR) of the girl’s mobile phone to ascertain whether she was in touch with any of the four named accused before the incident. The CCTV clips obtained from shops in the locality from where she was allegedly picked up in an SUV have not showed signs of use of force by the occupants,” he said.
The girl alleged that she was dragged inside a white coloured SUV when she was going to her sister-in-laws’ house on foot on September 13. She was alone as her mother, a homemaker, had gone to her (victim’s) elder sister’s house. The accused raped her in the moving vehicle on Bettiah-Pakhnaha road, she alleged in the FIR.
She also told the police that the accused later dropped her near the house and drove away after threatening her not to disclose the incident to anybody. “Unlogon ne jaan se mar dene ki dhamki di thi (they had threatened me with dire consequences),” she said in her police complaint.
ADG (headquarters) Jitendra Kumar said on Monday, “Efforts are on to arrest the accused and the case will be put on speedy trial.”
Meanwhile, former CM Rabri Devi and leader of opposition in state assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav criticized the state government for its failure to ensure safety of women. Congress MLC Prem Chandra Mishra also lambasted CM Nitish Kumar for his failure to check the incidents of crime. “He is the chief minister of the state for the last 14 years and also holds home portfolio. I think he (Nitish) has failed to create any mechanism to check the crime,” he added.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)