Panchayat In Bihar Asks 15-YO Rape Survivor To Sell Her Baby Born Of Sexual Assault

A minor girl from Katra in Muzaffarpur district in Bihar, who was sexually assaulted by a Muslim cleric and an electrician, was asked to sell her baby by the panchayat.

Muzaffarpur Police is looking into the allegations. Meanwhile, the accused, who are at large, have been booked under sections of the IPC and POCSO Act.

The girl approached the panchayat with a demand that a DNA test must be conducted to ascertain the father of the baby, who should accept the two as family.

The kangaroo court allegedly blamed the girl for her misfortunes and ordered the baby sold off and the money handed to her as “compensation”. The decision taken by the community panchayat came to light after the girl, daughter of a labourer, braved to approach the police.

“The issue had been raging in our community panchayat since the beginning of this year, when the minor girl sought justice from it for being raped,” Muhammad Sadre, a member of the Katra Masjid Committee, told The Telegraph

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“She gave birth to a child last month. However, our panchayat held her responsible for her plight. It ordered that the baby be sold off and the money received given to her.

“As far as I know, negotiations were held with a family in Tajpur, in nearby Samastipur district, and the baby was to be sold to them for Rs 1 lakh. I could not intervene and don’t know whether the baby has been sold,” he added.

An FIR has been registered at Muzaffarpur’s all-women police station.

The head of the panchayat told the girl that such crimes cannot be settled by the panchayat and advised her to go to the police.

BCCL

However, the girl approached the mosque committee, which held its own panchayat a couple of times to settle the matter.

After the community panchayat blamed her and ordered the sale of baby, the girl approached the local police.

Various families of Katra used to send food to the cleric, who stayed at the local mosque. The girl sometimes went to deliver food to him. On one fateful night, the minor was allegedly sedated and raped when she went to the accused with food in January. The cleric shot the video of the incident and constantly blackmailed the minor.

After an electrician also came to know of the matter, he also took turns to allegedly raped the minor.