In a disgraceful act at Santhal Pargana College in Dumka, a BA Part-I girl, accused of stealing a mobile phone, was brutally thrashed by her classmates after stripping her naked in the hostel who later also uploaded her video footage on social media.
Police said that the incident took place on August 4, but the matter was reported on Monday after which they came into action and lodged an FIR on the basis of the statement recorded by the victim and arrested four students of the college.
Meanwhile, CM Raghubar Das, taking a strong note of the incident, has directed the district administration to take stringent action against the culprits so that such incidents are not repeated in future. The district administration, acting swiftly, has formed a three-member probe committee which will submit its report within 24 hours.
Stunned with the incident, both father and the daughter said that they had no other choice but to end their lives as it had completely ruined the reputation of the girl and the family as well.
“Now there is no future of my daughter….. How will she go to the college and how she would face the societyIJ Who will marry her…..IJ I feel like ending my life as I cannot face the society anymore. Even though I was ready to pay the fine Rs Rs 18,600, they uploaded the video on the social media,” said father of the girl Rajendra Murmu.
Murmu claimed they had gone to the local police, Mahila Thana and the ST/SC Police Station after the video was made viral on social media, but nobody came forward to assist them. The police came into action after the CM ordered a probe into the matter, he said.
Dumka Police said that for students of the college studying in the same class have been arrested so far in this regard while the probe still on.
“We have arrested four students of the college while investigations are still on to find out the involvement of some other girls in the case,” said Dumka SP Mayur Patel.
The SP said since the incident occurred inside the college hostel and both accused as well as the victim was tribal, efforts were being made to sort out the matter within the community by sitting together. He said that the victim even did not report the matter to the police immediately after the incident.
“Since it was an internal matter of the tribal community, initially the victim was also reluctant to lodge an FIR in this regard and she along with her father approached Mahila Thana only after her video was made viral on social media,” said Patel. Stripping was ordered at a “mahapanchayat” after some girls found the victim carrying a mobile that went missing a few days back, he added.
The SP added that the police were trying to reach out to various WhatsApp groups’ administrators to ensure that the video was deleted and not shared further.
Patel further said that the “mahapanchayat” organised in the college, accused the victim of stealing the mobile phone and ordered her to be “beaten and stripped” imposing a fine of Rs 18,600, meanwhile, some of them made videos and took photographs of this, the police said. They had also threatened the victim to post the video clips on the social media if she failed to pay Rs 18,600.
The victim immediately went to her village where she narrated the incident to her father. Murmu rushed to the college after two days and tried to pacify the girls with a promise to pay the fine soon by selling of his oxen.
4 held for uploading bare Dumka college girl video he sought a time till August 25 to pay the penalty and returned home, but the video was already found to be circulated on social media.
When the videos went viral on social media, the victim, along with her father approached the college administration, police and others for justice, but no one gave heed to it. When the issue was raised in the media, the State Government swung into action.