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Bihar: Two Women Assaulted, Tonsured for Resisting Rape Attempt

Police have arrested five people, including a local ward councillor.

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New Delhi: Five people, including a local ward councillor, were arrested by the Bihar police, after a 50-year-old woman and her newly married 19-year-old daughter were tonsured, thrashed and paraded for protesting a rape attempt.

According to the Hindustan Times, in Vaishali district, local ward councillor Mohammad Khurshid was held by police for the assault. A barber and three others were arrested by the police on Thursday, after a video of the incident went viral on social media. Seven people have been accused in the assault, which occurred on Wednesday.

According to HT, station house officer (SHO) of the Bhagwanpur police station Sanjay Kumar confirmed the incident and said the matter is under investigation. Half a dozen people barged into the victims’ house and attempted to rape the daughter, a newly-married woman. The mother tried to stop them when the accused physically assaulted both of them.

Locals said that they were beaten with wooden sticks, dragged outside of their house. A ‘panchayat’ was held by them men, and Khurshid called a barber and ordered him to shave the women’s heads. They were later paraded across the village. The girl’s father was not present in the house during the assault, according to reports.

“Around 6.30 pm, half a dozen armed men forcibly entered my house and attempted to rape me. When my mother tried to save me, they started beating us,” one of the victims told the police, according to the newspaper. The mother filed a police complaint on Wednesday.

An FIR was registered with charges including molestation, attempt to rape among others.

The women’s commission has taken suo motu cognisance of the incident and has sought a detailed report from the state police headquarters, according to the Times of India. The commission’s chairperson Dilmani Mishra termed the incident “serious in nature” and warranted “stern action against the accused”. “Further action will be taken on the basis of the basis of the inquiry report,” she told TOI.