Bihar: Accused Of Raping Minor Punished With 5 Sit Ups, Police Files FIR Suo Moto After Video Goes Viral

In the year 2021, cases of crimes against women witnessed a 16.8 per cent rise in Bihar compared to the numbers recorded in 2020. Women and girl children in the state continue to live in constant threat of being violated, and many people have addressed the same and demanded the implementation of stringent laws for women's safety and action against perpetrators.

At such a point in time, a panchayat in Bihar deemed a punishment of five sit-ups apt for a rapist who physically abused a minor girl of barely five-year-old. A video of the same has been making rounds online, where the accused can be seen covered in a shawl and doing sit-ups in front of a crowd.

The fourteen-second-long video instantly went viral and was viewed by local police, who then took it ahead with higher officials. Police officials of Nawada district then registered a suo-moto case against the rapist and are probing into the matter.

A Crime Awarded With Sit-Ups

According to a report by FirstPost, the accused is a poultry farm owner in Kannauj village and allegedly lured the 5-year-old to his farm on the pretext of offering her sweets. He then proceeded to rape her, and the victim, unaware of what was happening, returned home and narrated the incident to her relative. Her family wanted to approach the police and lodge a first investigation report (FIR) against the accused.

However, before the family could go to the station, the accused confessed and pleaded with a former panchayat head for help. Both the victim and accused come from economically backward classes (EBCs), and the issue was taken over by the panchayat members. They called up for a meeting to discuss the appropriate action to be taken against the accused and decided that five sit-ups in front of the village crowd would suffice for his criminal conduct.

Tweet That Led Police To Taking Action

कोई पूछे कि देश में रेप की घटनाएं रुकती क्यों नहीं तो इस घटना के बारे में बता देना कि ..
छः साल की मासूम के साथ दुष्कर्म करने वाले को पंचायत ने 5 बार उठक-बैठक की सजा सुनाई और मामला रफा दफा!
घटना बिहार के नवादा का और आरोपी का नाम अरुण पंडित है। pic.twitter.com/QCm8Ly1hix

— Prabhakar Kr Mishra (@PMishra_Journo) November 25, 2022

A video of the accused doing the five sit-ups was tweeted by several journalists and received over 11,000 views within hours of posting. The tweet also made its way to one of the local cops in the region, who promptly informed the higher authorities and had a case officially filed against the accused. A case under the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offense (POSCO) has been filed, and raids are reportedly being conducted to arrest the accused.

Several media reports suggest that the police are yet to receive a formal complaint from the family members, as the panchayat had directed the victim's relatives not to approach the police in the matter. The panchayat allegedly claimed that such a case would bring a terrible reputation to the family.Taking cognisance of the issue at hand, the police officials have also informed that action would be taken against the panchayat members if their names come up during the investigation.

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