Double-engine government in Bihar failed to save a 11-year-old Dalit rape victim, says Congress

Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee supporters stage a protest against the alleged increase of rape and atrocities against women in the state, in Patna on Sunday, June 1, 2025. | Photo Credit: ANI

Condemning the rape and murder of a 11-year-old Dalit girl in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur, the Congress on Sunday (June 1, 2025) claimed that the “double engine government” had failed to save her life.

Taking to social media platform X, senior leader Rahul Gandhi said the brutality against a minor Dalit girl in Muzaffarpur and the subsequent negligence in her treatment were “extremely shameful”.

“If she had received timely treatment, her life could have been saved. Let alone provide security, the double engine government was negligent about saving her life. We will not sit quiet until the victim’s family gets justice. Strict action should be taken against the culprits and negligent officers,” he wrote.

Addressing a press conference at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) office, senior party leader and Rajya Sabha member Ranjeet Ranjan and party spokesperson Shama Mohamed alleged that the administration allowed the rapist to “roam free” despite being a serial offender.

Ms. Ranjan noted that the 11-year-old victim was left to die near a brick kiln after her brutal rape. While she was first admitted to a local hospital in Muzaffarpur, she was taken to AIIMS Patna after her condition deteriorated but doctors there refused to admit her, allegedly due to the unavailability of specialists required for the multi-speciality treatment, she said.

It took the intervention of Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Kumar for the victim to be admitted to Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) and that too was after five hours, the Congress MP claimed.

“If the girl was given proper treatment at the right time, her life could have been saved,” Ms. Ranjan said, accusing the JD(U)-BJP government of “criminal medical negligence”.

Ms. Mohamed said the victim’s body had 20 knife marks, her neck had been cut, her body mutilated, and she was left in the brick kiln to die.

“I am a doctor myself, and I know that when a case like that comes, they immediately take it. You don’t say that you don’t have a specialist available—never. But what did they do? They refused to take the child because she was a Dalit. If she were a VIP’s daughter or a high-caste child, she would have been admitted. Shame on the doctors in AIIMS Patna,” she said.

She claimed that criminals were feeling emboldened as the BJP government had “let powerful and influential people go scot-free despite serious charges”.

“What happened to the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padao’ slogan of the Prime Minister?” Ms. Mohamed asked.

Published - June 01, 2025 09:54 pm IST