Man seen molesting girl in Bihar's Jamui in shocking video arrested after encounter

Five of the seven accused who chased, assaulted and molested two minors in Bihar's Jamui have been arrested amid widespread outrage over the incident.

In Short

• Jamui assault main accused Nandan Yadav arrested after encounter
• Yadav injured during encounter, another accused also caught
• Five of seven accused identified have been arrested so far

Nandan Yadav, the main accused in the molestation and assault of a girl in Bihar's Jamui, was arrested after an encounter with police on Tuesday. A video of the incident, recorded last week, was widely circulated on social media, triggering outrage.

Yadav was injured in the encounter and subsequently taken into custody, police said. Another accused, Hare Ram Yadav, was also arrested during the operation and sustained a leg injury in the police action.

Yadav was among those identified from the viral video, which showed a group of men surrounding, harassing and assaulting the two minors. In the footage, Yadav is seen covering his face while violently assaulting the Class 10 girl and the boy.

Three other accused had been arrested earlier, taking the total number of arrests to five of the seven accused identified by police. Police had been conducting raids to catch the remaining accused after identifying around seven perpetrators with the help of the video.

The incident took place on the evening of September 19, when the duo were stopped by the group of men while returning from a nearby hill station in Jamui.

The two teenagers, who were friends and attended the same coaching institute, were travelling on a scooter when the group stopped them, abused them and forced them to get off the vehicle. The teenagers were also allegedly chased when they tried to escape.

A video of the incident was subsequently circulated on social media. The footage purportedly showed the girl being harassed and assaulted by the group, while the boy was also subjected to physical harassment.

Police said the two victims did not approach them with a complaint until Sunday, two days after the incident. After the video went viral, police traced the teenagers with the help of the registration number of a vehicle visible in the footage.

A Special Investigation Team headed by Jamui SDPO Deepti Monali was constituted to investigate the incident and trace the remaining accused.

Meanwhile, police have also launched a separate crackdown on people who circulated the video of the incident. The Jamui Cyber Police Station registered an FIR against around 120 social media profile holders for circulating the video while revealing the identity of the minor victim.

Senior police officers warned that revealing the identity of a minor victim and circulating such a video was a serious offence under the law. They appealed to people not to share or repost the footage.

- Ends