By Amit Bhelari
A deathly pall has descended over the village of Gopalpur, located in north-central Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district. Locals, uncommonly subdued, jostle for space in the straw-and-mud hut as they attempt to comfort a bereaved man huddled in a corner. His wife, who is beyond consolation, lies alone on her wooden cot in the adjacent room, her eyes leaking tears.
On the morning of August 12, the mutilated body of the Dalit couple’s youngest child — a 14-year-old girl — was found near a pond, slightly over a kilometre away from their hut, by farmers on their way to the fields. The alleged perpetrator, 45-year-old Sanjay Rai, belongs to the influential Yadav caste. The village itself is dominated by upper castes — of the 150 or so houses in the area, only 15 are occupied by Dalit families.
Looking up from her cot, the mother hesitantly starts speaking. “The night before we found our daughter, Rai and five of his friends came by our house around 11 p.m. They abused us, hurled casteist slurs, and abducted my daughter at gunpoint, threatening to rape and kill her,” she says.
The minor victim’s parents both struggle to make ends meet with their daily wage labour jobs. Of their five remaining children, three sons work as drivers in Kolkata. The other two girls are dependent on the couple.
A batchmate of the victim, who studied in Class 9 at a nearby government school, says she had always wanted more from life. “She had big dreams and ambitions. She wanted to escape this village life and be different from all of us.”
This story was originally published in thehindu.com. Read the full story here.