Four arrested after girl allegedly harassed in public in Bihar's Samastipur

A girl was allegedly harassed in public by a group of people in Bihar's Samastipur district, following which four accused were arrested, police said on Thursday.

The incident came to light on Monday after a video purportedly showing three to four people behaving indecently with the girl surfaced on social media. PTI could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.

According to a statement issued by Samastipur Police on Thursday, the video was technically verified and the incident took place near a bridge in Jagat Singhpur village. Police believe the incident occurred about a week ago.

An FIR was registered under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, POCSO Act and Information Technology Act, police said.

Police said they noticed the video during social media monitoring on Wednesday evening. As the identity of the girl, who appeared to be a minor, could not be immediately established, police registered a case based on the available information and identified and arrested all four accused allegedly involved in the incident.

The incident comes amid reports of similar alleged molestation cases in Jamui and Darbhanga in Bihar over the past several days.

Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav condemned the incident and questioned the law and order situation in the state.

"The public molestation of a minor girl in Samastipur is yet another grim indictment of the law and order situation in BJP-ruled Bihar. Will the shameless minister dismiss this too as a 'stray incident'?" he said.

Yadav also questioned whether the caste of the accused would influence the government's response to the case and criticised Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi over his earlier remarks on similar incidents.  (wuth inputsb from PTI)