Second harassment video from Bihar surfaces in Samastipur
Days after a video of a Class 10 girl being harassed in Bihar’s Jamui district caused widespread outrage, a similar video has surfaced from Samastipur, about 131 km away. Police said they arrested four men and filed a first information report after the footage was shared on social media on Wednesday.
The Samastipur video, which is less than a minute long, shows several men on motorcycles surrounding a girl and a boy on a village road. The two had reportedly stopped near an embankment bypass in Jagatsinghpur village, in the Karpurigram police station area, to take photos. The men then approached, abused the girl, pushed her, and grabbed her as she tried to get away.
Local reports say the boy was attacked first and ran away, after which the group targeted the girl. In the video, she can be heard objecting and asking to be released. Samastipur Superintendent of Police Arvind Pratap Singh said officers found the clip while monitoring social media on Wednesday night.
Officers identified the location as the Budhi Gandak dam bypass road and acted quickly. Police filed an FIR at Karpurigram police station under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, and the Information Technology Act. Police said the girl in the video appears to be a minor and could not be immediately identified, so the case was taken up suo motu.
Police arrested the four accused, Vikas Kumar Sharma, Rahul Kumar, Awadhesh Paswan and Rambabu Sahni, within hours. Three are residents of Jagatsinghpur; the fourth is from nearby Bijolia. Police also seized a mobile phone used to record and share the video.
Police later said questioning suggested the incident happened about a week earlier, likely around 15 September, even though the video appeared only on 23 September.
Police have asked the public and media not to share the clip or any information that could identify the girl.
This case follows the Jamui incident on 19 September, when a group of young men stopped two Class 10 students who were returning from coaching classes near Marwa Pahad. They abused the students and filmed the assault. The videos went viral on 21 September, which led to an FIR under the POCSO Act and the BNS. Several suspects, including minors, were detained, and the main suspect was arrested after a police encounter.
These two cases have brought new attention to women’s safety and public order in Bihar. In both incidents, young people who had stopped on a road were confronted by groups acting as self-appointed moral police, and the assaults were recorded. Authorities say they are questioning the accused in Samastipur, and more legal action is expected.
