On July 26, a Hindu minor girl was allegedly abducted on gunpoint from Bhikan Chak village, falling under Bachhwara police station limits, in Begusarai, Bihar, while she was returning from the market with her father. Dinesh, the minor girl’s father had alleged that seven people, including main accused Nazmul and a female, approached them in a Bolero car while they were crossing the Panchayat Bhavan in Behrampur in Mansurchak Block in Begusarai district and took away his daughter on gunpoint.
It’s been 17 days now, but her unnerved parents still have no clue where their daughter is. Speaking to OpIndia, the girl’s father Dinesh said that his daughter is still missing and alleged that the police are doing nothing to look for her.
Dinesh Kumar Pandit, who had filed an FIR that named the main accused, Izmul Khan alias Nazmul alias Aryan and his accomplice, Mohammad Narool Ansari, Mohammad Munaffar Anjum Ansari alias Chand and Farat and others, said that the Deputy superintendent of police (DSP) had visited him on August 2 and threatened him.
Speaking of the incident, Dinesh said that the police is not believing his complaints. He alleges that the Begusarai DSP told him that something as absurd as this never happens in reality and that he was concocting a story.
The Police ask me to give them some clues. I am a poor and helpless man, from where do I get the proof: asked Dinesh
Throwing light on the police apathy, Dinesh said that his family members regularly see the main accused Nazmul’s brother in their house in the neighbouring village. In fact, he was there on August 10 too, but whenever they ask the police as to why they are not arresting him, the latter claims that whenever they raid Nazmul’s house no one is present there. “The Police ask me to give them some clues. I am a poor and helpless man, from where do I get the proof”, asked the desolated father of a minor girl who has been missing for the last 17 days.
On being asked whether he informed police that his family members had spotted Nazmul’s brother yesterday also, Dinesh replied that police were informed but he is not sure as to what action did the latter take after receiving the information.
During the course of the conversation, Dinesh also confirmed that he has received no call since the incident either from his daughter or her abductors.
For any girl’s father, nothing can be more daunting than this that his minor daughter has been missing for over a fortnight and he does not know which door to knock and how to get her back. “My wife is in very bad shape, a feeling of dejection and melancholy has gripped my entire family”, said the troubled father furthering: “I have left no stone unturned. I have, until now, approached all the big and influential people that I could. Everyone assures that they will look into the matter, but no one cares. No one has taken any interest in my case”.
“Hum sune the Kanoon ke haath bahut lambe hote hain, lekin yeh sab kitab ki batain hain”: Dinesh Kumar Prasad as he talks of losing faith in the Indian judicial system
Dinesh told OpIndia that he approached Awadesh Kumar Rai, a former MLA from Begusarai and a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) State Executive in Bihar and pleaded that he instructs the police to take some concrete action in the case. Despite the assurance, he did not contact the police, said Dinesh. “Be it the Panchayat Sarpanch or the Mukhiyas (heads) I have knocked everyone’s doors, but what I got in return, was only dejection.
When asked whether he approached Congress’ Ramdev Rai, the local MLA, Dinesh confirmed that though he did not contact him directly he had spoken to the block representative of the Congress party. The representative, Dinesh confirmed, had initially also accompanied him to the police station to introduce him to the officials, which the Congress worker said would be beneficial for Dinesh as it would help him pursue his case. Dinesh, in his glum voice, continued saying, that, ever since, that block representative has also not contacted him and never come back to follow up the case.
“Only a few BJP members, including Amiya Kashyap, keep coming to us on and off to console and to re-assure us, otherwise, no one come to us. No media has also approached us”, confirmed the girl’s father.
Asserting that his family was now losing hope of getting their daughter back and faith in the judicial system, the disturbed father of the minor girl concluded by saying: “Hum sune the Kanoon ke haath bahut lambe hote hain, lekin yeh sab kitab ki batain hain. Garib aadmi ka koi dekhne wala nahi hain is Hindustan mein,” roughly translated as, “It is said that the judicial system of India is very powerful, but these are just stories, the fact is that no one in the country hears you when you are poor”.
After speaking to Dinesh and hearing his grievances with the police and the judiciary, OpIndia contacted Begusarai DSP Om Prakash to know his version of the incident.
‘It was a love affair, the story of ‘kidnapping’ is false: Begusarai DSP Om Prakash
As soon as we enlightened him regarding which incident we wanted to speak to him about, the DSP exclaimed: “You have been given the wrong information. No minor girl was abducted. The girl had a love affair with the boy”.
The Begusarai DSP continued that the two (the Hindu minor girl and the Muslim boy, Nazmul) have been caught twice in the past. The Panchayat members, taking action on the girl’s father complaint, had also beaten up the boy one and a half years ago, when he was caught exchanging love letters with the girl. The girl’s father has, twice before, broken her mobile phone, when she was caught talking to Nazmul. These things cannot stay under wraps for a very long time in the village, claimed DSP.
He continued that this time too, Dinesh approached the village Panchayat after his daughter did not return until late evening on July 26. He urged the Panchayat members to get his daughter back. In the Panchayat meeting, which was held in the presence of the village Panchayat heads, the sarpanch, the girls family members and the boy’s brother, Dinesh asked the members to pressurise Nazmul’s brother to give Nazmul’s contact details. But the boy’s brother said he did not know anything and did not have Nazmul’s contact details.
“Aap sochiye, yahan din dahare koi bhi gunpoint par kya aaise kisi ko utha ke le ja sakta hain?, (think about it, how is it possible that a person has abducted a girl on gunpoint that too in broad daylight) Begusarai DSP asked, insinuating that Dinesh was lying.
When the Panchayat members refused to intervene beyond this, as this was not the first time that the two had eloped, Dinesh contrived this fictitious story and gave the incident a Hindu-Muslim angle, the DSP said.
DSP says the incident is being politicised because of upcoming elections
“This is Bihar. There is a lot of corruption here. People play dirty politics. And now when the elections are around the corner, and coincidentally this particular case pertains to a Hindu girl and a Muslim boy, some BJP leaders are using Dinesh and the incident to gain political mileage. That is why Dinesh has filed an FIR giving the incident a communal or a Hindu-Muslim twist”, added the DSP.
Though the DSP becomes a little inaudible here, he is heard mentioning “Pakistan angle”, by which we presume he was talking about the statement given by Dinesh, where he had said that, Nazmul had allegedly told the girl’s father that had it been Pakistan, they would have taken the girl from the house itself.
The DSP said that the girls’ father has dreamt up the Pakistan statement. “You imagine, the FIR mentions the boy’s 17-18-year-old sister, his mother, two brothers as the co-accused. Is it possible that these people can abduct anyone, that too on gunpoint, said DSP, laughing at the plausibility of the event.
“The fact is that this is a simple love affair, which the girl’s family is blowing out of proportion”, furthered DSP Om Prakash. When questioned on allegations that police was not cooperating, DSP, in turn, passed the buck on to the girl’s father. He said that Dinesh was not assisting in the investigations. He did not provide police with the girl’s mobile number. Did not even turn up at the police station when summoned, said the police officer.
“We are trying are best, but what is one to do when the family members do not cooperate”, said the official furthering that he presumes the couple has fled to Kolkata. DSP OM Prakash said that the police received 4/5 mobile numbers which it tried to locate, but could not, as these mobiles have continuosly been switched off since they began investigating the case.
The DSP said that one Nazmul’s friend named Divanshu had told someone that their freind in Kolkata had suggested Nazmul to come to him with his girlfreind.
The DSP alluded that since elections are approaching, some people want to create confusion, a tensed atmosphere and trying to make political mileage out of the incident.
Begusarai Police only questioning the minor girl’s family, not the boy’s family
When asked whether the police have also summoned the boy’s family the DSP surprisingly told us that they had only interrogated the family which approached the Panchayat (the girl’s family). However, this remains a mystery as to why, when the girl was a minor, the boy’s side of the family was not questioned.
We had reported on July 30 that a minor girl was abducted on gunpoint while she was returning from the market with her father. The incident took place on July 26 (Sunday) in Bhikan Chak village in Begusarai, Bihar. Dinesh, the father of the minor girl said that around 5 pm, seven people, including a female, approached them in a Bolero car while they were crossing the Panchayat Bhavan in Behrampur in Mansurchak Block in Begusarai district and took away his daughter on gunpoint.
Naming Nazmul as the main accused with six others, Dinesh had written in his complaint that after the incident, he and his wife had visited Izmul Khan alias Nazmul alias Aryan’s house where they found his mother Haseena Khatun. When they tried to apprise Haseena Khatun about the incident, she gathered a mob with her screams and began to abuse and beat up the couple. Snatching Dinesh’s wife’s gold mangal sutra, Haseena had allegedly threatened the couple that she would sell their daughter in Bangladesh and push her into prostitution if they don’t leave immediately.
We had reported then how despite the girl being a minor, the SHO had confirmed that the POCSO Act had not been invoked and that the accused were booked under IPC sections 366, 323, 341, 379, 384 and 504, for kidnapping and causing hurt, among other offences.
The DSP’s repeated assertion on the case being a ‘love affair’ is also strange, because the family insists that the girl is a minor and a minor girl missing for over two weeks has not even brought out a serious response for the local police yet.
Amidst these allegations and counter-allegations, the hard-hitting fact is that a minor hindu girl has been missing since the last 17 days, and the police do not have a clue yet.
