Mystery shrouds the recovery of a woman in early twenties found in unconscious state near the official residence of the District Magistrate of Darbhanga, a north Bihar district, on Monday. Identified as Arti Kumari, 22, she was wearing jeans and a letter was found lying close to her which stated that wearing jeans by girls was violation of the Indian culture and girls wearing this dress would face similar or worse fate.
But the investigation into this case suggested that it appeared not a handiwork of any ‘Talibani’ group or moral police of a khap-like panchayat as the letter was written by Arti Kumari herself who is working as salesgirl with a local marketing company.
She said she was coerced to write this and the letter is addressed to the police. It warned that girls wearing jeans would be dealt with severely and asked the cops to strictly forbid the girls to wear this dress as it is not allowed in Indian society. After two days of this warning if any girl is found wearing jeans she would herself be responsible for any eventuality, it said.
However, the police suspect this episode. Darbhanga senior SP Manu Maharaj said that the girl had been seen near a children park and she was writing on a piece of paper. After that she fell unconscious and police sent her to the Darbhanga Medical College & Hospital. “The girl seemed in tension and suspected to be drug addict. There is no evidence that she was forced to write this letter,” said Maharaj. Sources said she had not been physically abused.
On gaining consciousness, Arti gave conflicting statements to the hospital doctors and the police. Originally hailing from a village in Dhanbad in Jharkhand, she had been transferred to Darbhanga from Begusarai only a week back. Company’s branch manger Ravi Kumar said she went to field on Monday with another staff Riyazul who did not return. He said she was not in depression or drug addict.
Bihar, though an orthodox as well as feudal society, had never seen such cases which are frequent in neighbouring UP as well as Haryana where khap panchayats issue diktats on such matters.