A 14-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped and murdered in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district earlier in August. The victim's family has accused one Sanjay Rai and five others of abducting and assaulting the girl. However, the police has given a different sequence of events.
What really happened in the case and what explains these contradictory accounts? We will try and answer these questions in this story.
"Our daughter was gang-raped and then murdered," allege kin
On 12 August, the police discovered the body of a 14-year-old girl in Lalu Chhapra village that falls under Paroo police station in Muzaffarpur district. The girl belonged to the Maha-Dalit community.
Family members claimed that Sanjay Rai, a 45-year-old man from the village, abducted the girl with the intent of forcibly marrying her and gang-raped her with his accomplices and then brutally murdered her.
On the family's complaint, the police registered a case under sections 103(1) (punishment for murder), 70(2) (rape of a minor girl), 3(5) (offense with intent) of the Indian Penal Code, as well as sections of the POCSO Act and the SC/ST Act.
What's the Police Saying?
The Bihar Police had formed an SIT to investigate the case. Now, they have claimed to have solved the case after completing the investigation. Muzaffarpur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rakesh Kumar announced this in a press conference on Monday, 20 August.
According to SSP Rakesh Kumar, the deceased and the main accused Sanjay Rai were in a relationship for the last three years. Telephonic records show that they used to talk on phone. On the night of the murder, 11 August, the two had a phone conversation. According to the police, this conversation occurred between 10:30 and 11 pm. After the call, the deceased reached Chaur (farm area) where they met regularly, the police claims.
"The 45-year old main accused thought that now everyone will know about his alleged relationship with the 14-year-old girl," the police said.
“Five youths from the same community as the deceased and living in the village were aware of the relationship between the deceased and the accused for the last 2-3 months. They wanted to catch both of them together. The five reached the spot 2-3 minutes after the girl reached there. There was a heated argument between them. The youths also beat up the accused Sanjay. One of these youths, Pankaj, hit the girl on the head with a rod. They also attacked her with a khurpi (agricultural tool). When the girl became unconscious, the five fled from there.” says the SSP.
The girl’s hands and feet were tied with a rope made of leaves, she was strangled and dragged away from the crime scene. Police say that this was done by Sanjay to keep his secret hidden.
The girl’s body was dragged about 20-30 meters away from the crime scene to a watery place and then buried there. The accused used a hoe to disturb the soil and conceal the blood stains. After this, he fled in his friend’s car.
Marks of being attacked with a sharp weapon have been found on the back of the girl's neck, head, and palm.
The police have so far arrested the main accused Sanjay Rai and his accomplice who allegedly helped him escape. Apart from this, three of the five accused youths have also been arrested. While the search for the other two is on.
Apart from this, the administration has also taken bulldozer action at Sanjay Rai's house under the leadership of CO Mukesh Kumar.
The police have also arrested Golden Das, who claims to be a leader of a particular community and 15 others. They are accused of inciting violence, disturbing law and order, and attacking the police in the area. All the 16 accused arrested in this case are named while 250 unidentified people have also been made accused.
Claims and Counterclaims
According to the FIR filed by the deceased girl's mother, on 11 August, around midnight, the girl's father and brother were sleeping outside the house. At this time, Sanjay Rai allegedly arrived with five companions, assaulted the father and brother, and hurled caste-based slurs at them. The FIR further states that Rai threatened to rape and kill the girl in front of her family members.
After the assault, Rai and his companions allegedly kidnapped the girl on a motorcycle. Later, the girl's body was discovered near a pond. The family claims the scene was horrifying, with the girl's torn clothes, bloodstains, body hair, and even a piece of flesh found nearby. Her hands and legs were tied, suggesting she had been restrained.
The family has alleged in the FIR that the girl was gang-raped and then brutally murdered, and her body was discarded afterwards. They also claim that Sanjay Rai had threatened to kill the minor if she was not married to him just two or three days before the murder.
However, there are some inconsistencies within the family's statements. While the mother mentioned in the FIR that the father and brother were present during the kidnapping, the deceased girl's sister told the media that no adults were home at the time of the abduction.
Attempts to reach the family for further clarification on these contradictions have been unsuccessful. The family has reportedly been unreachable since the night of 18 August, and the phone number provided in the complaint is now switched off. We will update the story when they respond.
(Translated by Syed Faheem Ahmed)
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