Cold-blooded murder of minor girl sparks fear in Dalit homes in Bihar village

A pall of death has descended on the village of Gopalpur in north-central Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district. Unusually quiet residents jostle for space in the mud-and-thatch hut to try to comfort a grieving man huddled in a corner. His wife, finding no solace, lies alone on her wooden cot in the adjoining room, her eyes swimming with tears.

On the morning of August 12, the mutilated body of the Dalit couple’s youngest daughter, a 14-year-old girl, was found near a pond, a little over a kilometre from their hut, by farmers on their way to the fields. The alleged culprit, Sanjay Rai, 45, belongs to the influential Yadav caste. The village itself is dominated by upper castes: of the approximately 150 houses in the area, only 15 are occupied by Dalit families.

The mother looks up from her bed and begins to speak hesitantly. “The night before our daughter was found, Rai and five of his friends came to our house around 11 p.m. They abused us, shouted racial slurs, and took my daughter at gunpoint, threatening to rape and kill her,” she says.

The parents of the minor victim are both struggling to make ends meet working as daily wage labourers. Of the five children left, three sons work as drivers in Kolkata. The other two daughters are dependent on the couple.

A classmate of the victim, who was in the ninth grade at a nearby government school, said she always wanted more out of life. “She had big dreams and big ambitions. She wanted to escape this village life and be different from the rest of us.”

The hunt for justice

On August 13, a day after finding the minor’s mutilated body, her mother lodged a complaint at the Paroo police station. Subsequently, an FIR was lodged against Rai and five unidentified persons under sections 103(1) (murder) and 70(2) (gang rape of a minor) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, as well as relevant sections of the POSCO Act. Several sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 were also brought into force.

The first arrest was made by Muzaffarpur police on August 16: a man named Mithilesh, who allegedly helped the prime suspect escape arrest.

The next day, police arrived at Rai’s house, where he lived with his wife and children 500 metres from the victim’s hut, to seize his belongings. His house was also partially demolished using a JCB machine.

On August 19, police made a breakthrough in the case after arresting Rai and three others from Araria.

Talk to The HinduAccording to SSP Rakesh Kumar, the police discovered the missing piece of the puzzle after questioning Rai. “After arresting the main accused, along with three others – Pankaj Ram, Chunnu Paswan and Munna Ram of Gopalpur village – it was revealed that Sanjay Rai and the minor were in a relationship. Their phone records prove it,” he said.

Five people from the village, he said, knew about the relationship and wanted to catch them red-handed. “On the night of the murder, this group of people reached the place where Rai and the minor were meeting illegally. An argument broke out and they attacked both of them with sticks and rods. They also hit the girl on the head with a knife. khurpi (gardening tool), after which she lost consciousness. They then fled,” he added.

Mr Kumar added that during interrogation, Rai confessed that out of fear of being caught, he had strangled the girl and dumped her body near the pond. khurpi used to render her unconscious and other key evidence was recovered by police.

However, there is no trace of rape, contrary to what the victim’s family has alleged, the SSP said. “No traces of struggle were found on her private parts in the autopsy report, nor any trace of semen,” he said.

Although the police version does not match the family’s account, both sides have yet to appear in court.

Inequalities persist

The incident gained national attention after Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati tweeted demanding strict action from the state government. Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal also criticised the Nitish Kumar-led government for the killing.

The main accused’s neighbour, Joginder Rai, claims that he has “defamed the name of the entire village”.

Ranjit Kumar Singh, head of Lalu-Chapra panchayat, echoes this sentiment. “Sanjay Rai wanted to marry the minor, but his family did not allow him as he was much older than her and already married. In fact, he had tried to bribe the family by offering them a tractor and land, but they still refused,” he says.

The crime has spread fear among the small, outnumbered Dalit community in the village. Police teams are currently camping in the area, standing close to the deceased’s family.