Bihar cop demands bribe to arrest rape accused, caught

Displaying brazen insensitivity, a police officer in Bihar demanded bribe from a traumatised rape victim to ensure the arrest of the accused and to take the investigation in the right direction.

Unable to afford the bribe sought, the girl's father lodged a complaint against him with the state vigilance bureau (SVB) after which he was caught red-handed.

Acting on the written complaint, SVB officials laid a trap for Jag Narayan Ram, the station house officer (SHO) of Narhat police station in Nawada district of south-central Bihar, about 100 km from Patna.

“Acting on a complaint, an SVB team led by deputy superintendent of police Maharaja Kanishk Singh laid a trap on Thursday. It caught Ram in the act of accepting Rs. 10,000 from the victim’s father, in his police station. This was the first instalment of Rs.20,000 sought as bribe,” said Bihar additional director general of police (vigilance) PK Thakur.

Thakur said the SHO had demanded the bribe for ensuring the arrest of the accused in the rape of the woman, a native of Badalpur village, and to carry out ‘expeditious investigation’ in the matter.

The accused SHO was produced in a vigilance court on Friday.

In his written complaint to the SVB, the victim’s father said a resident of the same village had raped her on September 2, 2012.

“However, the Narhat SHO, who is the investigating officer in the case, told me that the deputy SP concerned, in his supervision report, would declare the rape charge of my daughter as untrue unless I paid him a bribe of Rs. 20,000,” the man said in his complaint.