Rape in Rabri's Constituency
The recent rape and murder of a young dalit woman in Raghopur – the high profile constituency of Bihar CM Rabri Devi as well as self-proclaimed dalit leader Ram Vilas Paswan, has sent shock waves through Bihar .
On 17 August, Manju Devi, an 18 year-old married woman from a poor dalit family in a village in Raghopur had gone with two friends to work in the fields of Nagina Rai. She went to a nearby pump for a drink of water, and was waylaid and raped by two local strongmen Nankhu Rai and Uday Rai. Rape and molestation of poor women is the order of the day here; protest is not. Manju Devi broke the silence, and dared to lodge an FIR in Hajipur town police station, as the local police were backing the rapists.
On 26 August at 4 am , when Manju and her mother were out in the fields, four goons – Ram Babu Rai, Lalit Rai, Salit Rai and Satyanarain Rai strangled and killed Manju. The police got rid of the two ‘angochas' (towels) used to strangle her.
Manju's brother came to Patna and contacted leaders of AIPWA, who promptly alerted the media and sent a team on 19 September to investigate. The team, led by AIPWA State Secretary Shashi Yadav, CPI(ML) MLA Satyadeo Ram, AIPWA leaders Anita Sinha and Savitri Devi and others, found that till date the rapists have not been arrested and the victim's family has been provided with no security despite facing continuous threats. When the team reached the village, the criminals even tried to intimidate them. Locals told the team that these goons and habitual rapists have the patronage of the local RJD MLC Udai Rai, who walks with a posse of unlicensed gunmen in broad daylight. Manju was the only one who dared to protest – and she was silenced by murder. The entire dalit tola is stricken by fear and the family is being threatened to withdraw the case.
Rabri Devi, much touted as the messiah of dalits and women, has not said a word about this chilling tale of rape and murder in her own home constituency, patronised by men of her own Party. Ram Vilas Paswan too has kept silent.
The AIPWA team has demanded that the rapists and murderers be arrested and punished, and that the goons who have assaulted and threatened dalits be booked under the SC/ST Act. Also, they have demanded that Rabri resign as CM of Bihar, since she is unwilling to protect the dalit landless women of the State – be it Manju Devi of Jehanabad killed by Ranveer Sena or Manju Devi of Raghopur.