15 arrested, 8 cops suspended after woman beaten and paraded naked in Bihar
Patna, Aug 21 : A day after a woman was thrashed and paraded naked by a mob in Bihar's Bihiya town in Bhojpur district, the state police arrested 15 suspects and suspended eight of their own men, but denied that it was a case of mob lynching.
The Opposition demanded resignation of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the collapse of law and order and imposition of the President's rule in the state.
The National Commission for Women has taken cognizance of the incident and directed the Bihar police chief to submit a report.
S.K. Singhal, Additional Director General (police headquarters), said 15 persons have been arrested on the basis of video footage of the incident. "More arrest will follow," he added.
"It was not a case of mob lynching at all. The police have been investigating it. None of the culprits would be spared," Singhal said.
The ADG said the incident took place after the body of a youth was found on railway track in Bihiya town in Bhojpur district, about 90 km from Patna, on Monday.
Bhojpur superintendent of police Avakash Kumar has suspended the eight police officials, including two police station officers, on charge of negligence of duty.
"The youth was strangled to death as per the post-mortem report," he said.
The local police said soon after the body of 19-year-old Bimlesh, who had been reported missing since Sunday, was found on the railway track on Monday morning, a mob from his village first staged a protest and then attacked a few people living in the adjoining red light area.
Some people blamed a Dalit woman of a nearby red light locality for the death, police sources said.
They said the mob rushed to her house and dragged her to the street. She was beaten up and paraded naked, they said.
A police team that reached the spot hours later was attacked by the mob. The police had to open fire to save the woman. Later she was admitted to a local hospital, police sources said.
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Six terrorists killed in two major operations in south Kashmir
Awantipora (J-K) (PTI): After the April 22 Pahalgam attack, security forces turned the focus of their anti-terror operations to specific areas in south Kashmir and eliminated six terrorists in the past three days, officials said on Friday.
"The security agencies reviewed their strategy according to the situation in the wake of terror activities in the last one month and our intensified focus was on operations," said V K Birdi, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir.
The IGP was addressing a press conference with General Officer Commanding, Victor Force, Major General Dhananjay Joshi at the headquarters of the Victor Force here in south Kashmir's Pulwama district.
Birdi said that due to the intensified focus and coordination between various security agencies, two successful operations were conducted in which six terrorists were killed. He termed their elimination "significant achievements".
"These successful operations were possible because of the coordination and synergy among the security and intelligence agencies. We are duty-bound to end any terror activity in Kashmir and we are always ready to stop such acts," the IGP said.
The encounters took place in the Keller area of Shopian and the Nadar area of Tral in Pulwama on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively. Three terrorists each were killed in the two operations.
Victor Force GOC Major Joshi said immediately after the Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed 26 lives, the security forces designated several areas as focus areas.
"We had intelligence inputs that terrorists had moved to the higher reaches after the melting of snow. Keeping that in mind, our domination parties had continuously been deployed in the higher reaches, mountainous areas and forests," he said.
The security agencies received an intelligence input about the presence of terrorists in the Keller area of Shopian on the night of May 12, Major Joshi said.
"So the domination party that was deployed there for some time, relocated itself and in a focused way closed in on the area. They challenged the terrorists who fired at them, leading to an encounter in which three terrorists were neutralised," he said.
About the Tral encounter, the GoC said the operation took place in a different terrain.
"We had inputs and cordoned off the village. The terrorists took positions in different houses and fired. Our challenge was the safe evacuation of innocent civilians including children. Then systematically searches were conducted one by one in the houses and the three terrorists were neutralised in separate places," he added.
The successful conduct of both the operations shows that the security forces will find terrorists wherever they are and neutralise them, Major Joshi said.
Of the six slain terrorists, the main one was Shahid Kuttay, who was involved in major attacks. The attacks included one on a sarpanch in Heerpora, Shopian on May 18 last year and the firing incident at Danish Resort on April 8 last year in which two German tourists and a driver were injured, the officer said.
"Kuttay was also involved in fundraising and other activities," he added.
Neutralisation of both the modules has dealt a blow to terror outfits and will help in stopping terror activities here and bring peace, Maj Joshi said.
