A girl, who was battling for life after being raped in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur recently, died at a state-run hospital on Sunday, police said.
The minor was raped on May 26 in her village in Muzaffarpur and brought to the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) on Saturday in a critical condition, an official said.
The rape victim, referred to PMCH, was left waiting in an ambulance for several hours on Saturday, allegedly due to the unavailability of a hospital bed, state Congress president Rajesh Ram alleged.
A purported video of the incident had gone viral on social media, exposing the “insensitivity of the government and the hospital administration, he claimed.
PTI couldn’t independently verify the authenticity of the video.
Reacting to the incident, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, in a post on X on Sunday, wrote, “The brutality against a minor Dalit girl in Muzaffarpur and the subsequent negligence in her treatment is extremely shameful. If she had received timely treatment, her life could have been saved. But the double-engine government was negligent not only in providing security but also in saving her life. We will not sit quietly until the victim’s family gets justice. Strict action should be taken against the culprits and negligent officers.”
Ram was present at the PMCH along with the party’s media cell Bihar in-charge Rajesh Rathore during the admission of the rape victim on Saturday.
“The girl died this morning. Her throat and chest were brutally slashed by the accused. He had also attempted to kill her by slitting her throat. Her vocal cords were damaged, and she was unable to speak. The accused was arrested,” a police officer said.
The state Congress chief on Sunday claimed, “It is a heart-wrenching incident and an insult to our state, headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.”
He alleged, “The victim died as the law and order and the health system in the state have collapsed. The NDA government in the state and the PMCH administration are solely responsible for the death of the girl. The incident has exposed the insensitivity of the government, the CM and the PMCH.”
Rathore said the survivor had been referred to PMCH from Muzaffarpur and her family members reached the state-run hospital at 11 am on Saturday.
“It took the hospital administration more than four hours to provide her a bed, and she was finally admitted there after 3 pm. She was admitted after our intervention. The girl succumbed to her injuries on Sunday morning,” the Congress leader claimed.
Later in the day, Congress workers staged protests across the state against the NDA government and the PMCH administration.
In Patna, Congress workers, led by the chief of the state party unit, held a protest near the Income Tax Golumber and burnt the effigy of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and state Health Minister Mangal Pandey.
They also demanded the resignation of Pandey over the issue.
“The law and order situation has completely collapsed in the state. There is no rule of law in the state. The CM and BJP leaders have no concern for crimes which are being committed under the protection of the ruling parties. The CM has become deaf and dumb…he is simply maintaining a stoic silence over the issue,” the Bihar Congress chief alleged.
Despite repeated attempts, Pandey could not be reached for comments on the allegations.
The accused lured the minor on the pretext of offering chocolate near her aunt’s house and took her to a maize field. He raped the girl there, the police said.