Widow gangraped in Bihar

PATNA - A 50-year-old widow was gangraped in a Bihar village after she was charged with practising witchcraft. No one has been arrested so far, officials said Tuesday.

The victim, who earned her livelihood by selling vegetables, was raped by two men in Banka district, about 200 km from here, Saturday, district officials said.

Police failed to make any arrest despite the state woman commission’s intervention following the refusal of the government hospital to provide her medical care initially, women’s activist Kanchan Bala said.

“The incident has again exposed the police insensitivity in the state,” Bala told IANS here.

The victim — who had also been tortured by having stones inserted into her private parts — was undergoing treatment at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital in neighbouring Bhagalpur district.

Hospital superintendent Arjun Kumar Singh said doctors removed the stones.

The victim reportedly told police that Mika Das and Anil Das repeatedly raped her and inserted the stones. “She named five men who assaulted her and then two of them raped her,” police said.

Banka superintendent of police Shyam Kumar said: “Police were investigating the case and stringent action will be taken against the accused if the allegations are found to be true.”