Rajasthan woman shot dead for resisting molestation in Patna

PATNA: An elderly woman from Rajasthan was shot dead for allegedly resisting molestation of the girls in her nomadic group by four local youths near Raghopur under Bakhtiyarpur police station area in Patna on early Tuesday morning.
Bakhtiyarpur police station SHO Kamlesh Sharma said the deceased was identified as Usnawa (65). She was part of a group of around 20 people, who roam around in different states to sell carpets and other items.Sharma said they are members of an extended family of Chinka Naka village near Jaipur.
“They had reached Bakhtiyarpur late Monday night from Biharsharif in Nalanda and had put up tents where the incident took place,” he said.
Narrating the incident to the media, the one in the group said four armed youths attempted to rape his two daughters. “They pointed gun at my head and demanded money when I begged them for mercy. They thrashed me along with my daughters,” he said. He alleged that one of the youths opened fire, killing the woman.
The SHO, however, said the four youths entered their tents and attempted to molest the girls after which they all woke up and objected. “A scuffle took place. The nomadic group immediately decided to leave the place,” he said. But the accused opened fire, killing the woman on the spot.
Though the SHO initially accepted that the woman was shot dead for resisting molestation, later in the day he said the youths had only entered their tents. When they objected, a scuffle took place and the woman was killed. He said police were trying to identify the youths involved in the crime.
But a chowkidar named Ramji Paswan told the media that the group informed the police about the molestation by the accused and that the woman was killed for objecting to it.