A 20-year-old Muslim man, with help of his friends, kidnapped a Hindu girl on gunpoint. As per complaint by the girl’s father, the group said that had it been Pakistan, they would have taken the girl away from home itself.
July 2020: A man in Bihar’s Begusarai district gave a complaint to the local police on 30 July, 2020, that when he was going to some place with his “minor” daughter, a group of Muslim men and women abducted the girl on gunpoint. As per the complaint, one of the kidnappers told the girl’s father that had it been Pakistan, they would have taken the girl from the house itself.
The alleged incident happened in Begusarai’s Bhikan Chak village that falls under Bachhwara police station.
Dinesh Kumar Pandit, 42, said in his complaint that around 5 pm on 26 July, he was returning from Mansurchak market with his “15-year-old daughter” after shopping for grocery when a Bolero car, which had no number plate, stopped near him. Three men and a woman got out of the vehicle. The men held him tight while the woman pushed his daughter inside the car. When Dinesh objected, the men pointed their pistols at him. One of the men, named Mohammad Narool Ansari, told him that if it were Pakistan, he would have abducted the girl from the house itself. The complaint names others as Izmul Khan alias Nazmul alias Aryan, Mohammad Munaffar Anjum Ansari alias Chand and Farat.
The complaint further said that the group threatened Dinesh against telling anybody about this and sped away. In the evening, Dinesh and his wife quietly visited the house of Nazmul alias Aryan where they found his mother Haseena Khatun, who is wife of Mehrum Misar Ahmed Ansari, at home. The couple narrated the incident to the woman. In response, Haseena gathered a mob with her screams and began to abuse and beat up the couple. Haseena pulled his wife’s gold mangalsutra from her neck. She also told the couple that she would sell their daughter in Bangladesh and push her into prostitution if they don’t immediately leave. The couple returned home for fear of loss of reputation.
The complaint further said that on 30 July around 10 am, a stranger visited their house. He had come on a motorcycle which, again, did not have a number plate. The man told the couple that if they want their daughter back, Dinesh should come with him. The man took Dinesh to an isolated place and said that if he wants his daughter back, he should arrange for Rs 2 lakh and give it to Haseena Khatun within two days. He threatened Dinesh that his daughter would be sold off in Bangladesh if he fails to do so.
Read the complaint below:
Dinesh told us over the phone that the main accused, Nazmul, has been harassing his daughter on her way to school for quite some time. He said that a year ago, he had confronted Nazmul and warned him not to go after his daughter. “He stayed in his limit for some time, but resumed harassing my daughter later,” he said.
The girl is youngest of Dinesh’s three daughters. She appeared for her Class 10 exams in 2020. Both her sisters are married. She has no brother. The family, said Dinesh, belongs to ‘Kumhaar pandit’ caste which comes under Other Backward Castes category.
Dinesh said he has received no call since the incident either from his daughter or her abductors.
A policeman at Bachhwara police station said that on 31 July, a first information report (FIR) was registered in the case (number 158/2020). Three men and a woman – Izmul Khan alias Nazmul alias Aryan, Mohammad Munaffar Anjum Ansari alias Chand, Mohammad Narool Ansari, and Farat – were booked under IPC sections 366(A), 323, 341, 379, 384, 504, 506 and 34.
The policeman said the police had not invoked POCSO Act yet as probe is on.
We took the case to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), also called the national child commission. They intervened in the case.
The same day, the commission sent a notice to Begusarai police chief asking for an action taken report (ATR) in three days.
See the notice by the commission below:
The police failed to submit ATR as requested despite repeated reminders by the commission.
On 11 August, the commission sent summons to the Begusarai superitendent of police to appear before them in a week.
See the commission’s letter on 11 August below:
On 18 August, the SP appeared before the commission through video conferencing. The same day, the girl was traced and rescued.
She was brought to Bacchwara police station on evening of 19 August.
Here’s a video of Izmul in police custody:
Chairman of the child commission, Priyank Kanoongo, told us that on 19 August during video-conferencing, the Begusarai police chief was given a deadline that the girl must be rescued by Saturday (22 August) or the commission would take strict action in the case.
He also congratulated us for our reporting.
Update: The girl was rescued by the Begusarai police. On the day of her recovery, police told this correspondent that the age of the girl was yet to be verified. You can read a follow-up report on the case here.
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