Supaul man held on sexual assault charge

PATNA: A 28-year-old married woman was allegedly kidnapped, sexually assaulted for over two months and forced to change her religion in Supual district, police said on Sunday.
The woman lodged a complaint against one Md Kalim, on Saturday, accusing him of sexually assaulting her for over two months after holding her captive from Bhimpur police station area on June 30.
The woman, in her complaint, said she was forced to convert her religion during illegal confinement, but somehow came to know about the place she was kept and informed the family members with the help of a neighbour.
The woman’s relatives reached the Forbesganj railway station on Saturday with a group of activists and rescued her when Kalim was trying to shift her to another location.
The woman, a mother of two, was allegedly kidnapped by Kalim and his accomplices in a car when she had gone to relieve herself in a nearby field around 7pm on June 30.
According to the police complaint, the accused stuffed a piece of cloth in the woman’s mouth and also covered her eyes. “When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a solitary room,” she told the police.
SHO of Bhimpur police station Subodh Kumar said the accused, who was taken into custody on Saturday, was subsequently produced before a local court, which remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days. “The woman’s medical report is awaited,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Chhatapur unit of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has demanded stern action against the culprits. Mukesh Kumar, a functionary of the organization, alleged that women belonging to a particular community were being targeted by a section of people from another community.