Three youths were detained after a video circulating on social media allegedly showed a young woman being harassed and assaulted at Mandar Hill in Bihar’s Banka district, police said on Friday. The incident, which reportedly took place months ago but surfaced on social media recently, is the third such case that has brought Bihar’s law and order in the spotlight within a week.
The incident has sparked a political slugfest, with RJD leader and leader of the opposition (LoP) in the Bihar assembly Tejashwi Yadav raising questions over the law-and-order situation in the state. The incident comes days after a teenage girl was allegedly harassed in Jamui. In Samastipur, four people were arrested after a purported video showing a girl being harassed emerged online.
Police said one of the accused allegedly forced ₹ 1,500 to be transferred online from her account before letting them go. Banka Superintendent of Police Amitesh Kumar told news agency ANI that the video was brought to the attention of the Bounsi Station House Officer (SHO) on September 22. “Preliminary investigations revealed that the youths assaulted the victim and also took ₹ 1,500 from her account via PhonePe.
Police then began efforts to identify the people seen in the footage and gathered information about three youths by Thursday night, he said. Acting on the matter, the police have detained the three youths, and they are currently being interrogated,” he said.
Police have detained the three youths and are questioning them in connection with the case.
The SP said all three accused seen in the video are from the Barahat police station area.
