MINOR GIRL WAS CAUTERISED WITH HOT IRON AND SUCCUMBED TO HER INJURIES AT PMCH, VILLAGERS AGITATED, ASI REMOVED FROM THE POLICE STATION

Ara, 13 March 2023, (RNI): One Anshu Kumari 12 a student of class III and daughter of Mallu Singh of Tier village under the same police station in Bhojpur district succumbed to her injuries during treatment at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH). A named FIR was lodged with the police under Tier police station against three personsincluding two women, Paras Giri, his wife Durga Deviu and his daughter Kushu Kumar of the village in this regard on the statement of Lalan Yadav, grandfather of the deceased on March 9, 2023. Police are investigating the matter and also conducting raids to arrest the miscreants. Reason behind the incident is still to be ascertained. 

Quoting the FIR the SHO Tier police station Ashish Kumar Sah said that Anshu Kumar read in class III in a private school of the village. She along with other girls had gone to school taking provisions for picnic on March 5, 2023. All the girls returned home at about 11am the same day but Anshu Kumari did not. The family members searched for her and was told that Khushi Kumari of the village taken Anshu Kumari towards her house. When the family members reached there, the door of the house was locked but they heard some sound inside the house. They somehow reached in a room at the roof of the house and peeped through the window, they found half naked Anshu Kumari unconscious. She was cauterized with hot iron at several places and her face was burnt after sprinkling kerosene oil on her. Later the miscreants strangulated her with rope and escaped from the scene thinking she was dead. The family members rushed her to the Bihia Community Health Centre in unconscious state but the doctor sent her to the Ara Sadar Hospital whence the doctors referred her to the Patna Medical College and Hospital where she breathed her last during treatment in the night. The SHO said that the police recovered half burnt school uniform and a locket from the spot. The SHO denied rape of the girl.

As the body of the girl reached Tier village, the residents of the village became agitated. They gheraoed the Tier police station and raised slogans against the police officials. They also blocked the Bihia-Bagen main road with the body of the deceased in front of the Tier police station. They brunt tyres on the road and paralyzed movement of vehicles for about seven hours. They were demanding arrest of miscreants, compensation for the family of the deceased, suspension of an ASI Haribansh Singh alias Chattan Singh posted at the Tier police station. Villagers blamed that Chattan Singh had arrested two miscreants but later released them after taking money from them. Kanchan Devi mother of the deceased along with dozens of women of the village reached the Tier police station and banged the table and demanded to call the ASI Chattan Singh before them.

Some villagers said that a 19 year old lady who is also one of the named accused had some illicit relation which Anshu Kumari knew. It was said that marriage of lady was settled and her family members were afraid that the matter might be leaked and so they planned to eliminate Anshu Kumari and killed Anshu Kumari brutally.

Bhojpur SP Pramod Kumar Yadav said that in the initial investigation, it came to know that Anshu Kumari was cauterized with hot iron and was strangulated though allegation leveled by her family members on the ASI Chattan Singh is not clear so far. It would be clear after the arrest of the named accused. He said that he removed Chattan Singh from the Tier police station for his so called dereliction of duty and was close to Ara Civil Court.