Bulldozers in Samastipur as Bihar harassment cases trigger statewide police review

The Samastipur district administration on Friday deployed bulldozers to clear what it described as encroachments on government land from properties linked to three of the four men accused in a case involving the alleged harassment of a minor girl earlier this week. The public distribution system licence of one of the accused was also cancelled.

The four — Vikas Kumar Sharma, Rahul Kumar, Rambabu Sahni and Awadhesh Paswan — were arrested on Thursday, within six hours of police receiving information about a video of the incident. The footage allegedly showed a minor girl being abused and subjected to indecent behaviour by a group of youths.

A day after the arrests, structures identified by authorities as illegal, including a tea shop, were demolished at properties belonging to Rahul Kumar, Rambabu Sahni and Awadhesh Paswan. The district administration said the action was directed at encroachments on government land. Encroachment outside Vikas Kumar Sharma's house in Jagatsingpur was also cleared.

Samastipur Sadar Sub-Divisional Magistrate Rakesh Kumar said action had been taken against three of the four accused for encroaching on government land. He said Vikas Sharma's structure is a permanent construction and was not demolished, but a 24-hour notice had been served on his family to vacate the encroached portion. Another notice was to be served, after which further action would follow in three days. He confirmed the cancellation of Awadhesh Paswan's PDS licence.

The four accused were sent to judicial custody after an FIR was registered under relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the Information Technology Act. Police said Vikas had earlier faced FIRs under the Excise Act in connection with alleged liquor smuggling and had been jailed in those cases, while the criminal backgrounds of the other accused were being verified.

The developments come amid a string of videos of alleged harassment of girls that have surfaced across Bihar over the past week, keeping police in several districts occupied. In one case, a video showed youths surrounding and allegedly harassing two teenage students in a hilly area on the outskirts of Jamui. Police apprehended three juveniles and arrested two people, identified as Nandan Yadav and Hareram Yadav; Nandan was shot in the leg while resisting arrest, according to police. The episode became a political flashpoint, with Indian Youth Congress national secretary Murari Kumar alleging that a bulldozer was sent to the house of a local Congress leader over his protest against the Jamui incident.

Another video showed a girl allegedly harassed, pulled by her hair and subjected to abusive remarks by a group of youths on a bypass road in Samastipur in broad daylight. A separate video from Samastipur, purportedly from August 14 and concerning an incident under Musrighari police station, led to four people being identified and one, Dharmendra Sahni, being arrested within five hours of police receiving information. Suspects in that case were booked under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the POCSO Act and the IT Act.

A video from Banka showed people harassing and assaulting a girl at the historic Mandar Hill tourist site. Police later said the incident had actually occurred on June 3 and that three suspects working as migrant labourers outside Bihar had been identified.

Amid Opposition criticism over the law-and-order situation, Bihar Police have ordered a wider review across the state. Thirty-six IPS officers of ADG, IG and DIG ranks have been assigned districts for a three-day review from September 25 to 27. They have been asked to stay in their respective districts, review law and order and police functioning, examine key issues and submit reports to the DGP's office.