Motihari gangrape: NCW seeks appointment with President

New Delhi, June 30: The National Commission for Women (NCW) has sought an appointment with President Pranab Mukherjee tomorrow in the wake of several incidents of rape in Bihar, including the brutal grangrape of a woman in Motihari.

"We are not only going to talk to the President about Motihari (incident). We have a chronology of cases from Bihar over the last 3-4 months. In the last week, there have been five cases that have come to our light. "Many of them (victims) are minors.

The real problem is the connivance of the health and police authorities, which is an absolute shame. This needs to be looked into by a higher authority," NCW Chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam said. The incident took place on June 13 when five men stormed into the woman's hut, dragged her out and allegedly gangraped her in front of her parents and neighbours.

They allegedly brutalised her by inserting a pistol and a wooden stick into her private parts. Five persons have been arrested in connection with the case and two policemen suspended for dereliction of duty. NCW had earlier instituted an inquiry into the alleged gangrape of the 21-year-old woman.

A two-member team, which visited Bihar as part of its fact-finding mission, found "lapses" on the part of medical authorities who subjected the woman to two-finger test despite a ban by the Supreme Court on the practice, she said.

The Commission has already shared its report with the Prime Minister's Office and will give it to the Home Ministry. According to the NCW chief, the report looks into the role of hospital authorities where the rape survivor was taken.

NCW member Sushma Sahu, who visited Motihari, said "Medical authorities at Sadar Hospital have deliberately tried to meddle with test report. NCW has summoned the Civil Surgeon Prashant Kumar to the national capital tomorrow in this regard."

"There was a serious failure on the part of the police authorities who dismissed the incident as a case of physical assault when they received the complaint on June 15," she said.

Two Union ministers from Bihar -- Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and Minister of State for Human Resources Development Upendra Kushwa -- who had met the woman's family last week, had compared the case with the December 16 Nirbhaya gangrape in Delhi.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar too has come under Opposition fire over "increasing lawlessness" in the state.

PTI