RJD men convicted for a crime that was blamed on RSS by some to claim ‘attack on Dalits’

In Arrah, Bihar, RJD leader Kishori Yadav and his 4 other men have been sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment by a local court for beating up a woman and parading her naked in August this year. 14 other accused were sentenced to 2 years of imprisonment.

The incident had occurred on the morning of 20th August this year after the body of a local youth Bimlesh Sao was found lying near the railway tracks in Bihiya town, some 25 KM from Arrah.

Later, a violent mob from Sao’s village had ganged up started vandalising shops and vehicles, claiming that Sao was murdered. They accused a woman from the red-light area near Bihiya town to have been involved in the murder and beat her up, tore apart her clothes and paraded her naked through the streets.

Videos of the barbaric incident went viral in social media. Soon there were social media posts that claimed that the men who were torturing a Dalit Christian woman, were from RSS and BJP.

It is notable here that on the day of the incident, the violent mob had unleashed heavy violence and vandalism in the area. They had even attacked policemen and passing trains in the locality. After almost an entire day of altercations and violence, the police were finally able to subdue the mob and begin proceedings after extra platoons of forces were called. 2 police officers and 6 other policemen were also suspended for failing to handle the situation.

While media reports did confirm that the woman was a Dalit, there were no reports of RSS being involved and the crime being caste-related. Later, some ‘fact-check’ websites had stated that the crime was falsely attributed to RSS. However, there were no mentions of RJD men being involved.

It was reported later that among the 15 people initially arrested for the crime. 6 belonged to RJD. The main accused, Kishori Yadav was stated to be an active member who had frequently participated in RJD organised bandhs and protests.

Earlier this year, RJD leaders were also accused of attacking and burning down houses of Dalit villagers in Raghopur area in Bihar. Raghopur is Tejaswi Yadav’s constituency.