Mahadalit Teens Gang-Raped Near Patna, 1 Found Dead; Cops Arrest 1

Bihar Police on Friday claimed to have arrested the perpetrator of the gang rape of two Mahadalit minor girls near Patna, one of whom was found dead.

The condition of the other victim, who is under treatment at the AIIMS hospital here, improved slightly during the day, the police said.

"We have arrested the accused involved in the heinous crime. He is being interrogated by the investigators. The accused is also being confronted with the evidence collected during the course of investigation," Rajeev Mishra, Patna senior superintendent of police told news agency PTI on Friday.

The opposition BJP on Thursday gave a 24-hour ultimatum to the Nitish Kumar government to bring to justice the culprits in the gang rape incident.

The incident also evoked outrage from the Communist Party of India (Marxist' Leninist) Liberation, which supports the Nitish Kumar government from outside.

The gruesome incident sparked outrage and triggered protests in the state capital. Patna SSP on Thursday suspended a sub-inspector of Phulwarisharif police station for not handling the case properly when the family members had first visited the police station after the incident.

Angry locals blocked the Patna-Ara stretch of the national highway in the city for six hours on Wednesday in protest.

A delegation of CPI(ML) Liberation MLAs on Friday visited the area where the reported incident had occurred and also met family members of the dead girl.

The party's workers led by Mehboob Alam, leader of the CPI (ML) Liberation Legislature party in the Bihar Assembly, took out a protest march here during the day against the gruesome incident and submitted a memorandum to Patna district magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh.

According to the police, the two minor girls of Phulwari Sharif area had gone to collect firewood on Monday, but did not return till late night. On Tuesday morning the body of one of them, an eight-year-old, was found in a field at Hinduni village. The other was found lying unconscious with serious injuries on her person near the same spot.

An FIR was lodged against unidentified persons based on the statement of the dead girl's mother under section of the IPC and POCSO Act.

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