A village court in Bihar has slapped a fine of Rs20,000 (Dh1,141) on a young man accused of kissing a girl twice.
The incident took place at Ibrahimpur village under Bakhari police station in Begusarai, a central Bihar district some 125km east of Patna, earlier this week.
As per reports, the girl was returning home from her farmland when the man, identified as Mohammad Irshad, caught her and kissed her twice on the cheek.
She reported the matter to her parents who in turn brought it to the notice of the local village court.
On Wednesday, a village court was organised to decide the quantum of punishment to the man. After hearing both sides, the court asked the man to pay the girl a compensation of Rs20,000.
Subsequently, the youth’s family hurriedly agreed to pay the fine but the girl refused to accept the compensation, and instead remained adamant on marrying Irshad to escape “social stigma”.
“He [the accused] has earned me much disrepute in the society and he will have to marry me,” the girl said.
She added, “The boy will be free after paying the fine but who will marry me? The fine is just not acceptable to me.”
However, the boy refused to marry the girl, prompting the family to register a case of molestation against the accused of the local police station.
“We are aware of the incident and investigating the case. Suitable action will be taken after the investigation is over,” a local official, Sunil Kumar, told local media on Friday.
A similar incident was reported last year when a village court held in Khagaria district had asked the alleged rapist to pay a fine of Rs100,000 and in an out-of-court settlement of the case. The victim, a five-year-old girl, was alone in her house when the youth entered her house and allegedly raped her.
In another incident that took place in Jharkhand state, the village court ordered for rape of any women relatives of the accused by the victim’s husband. Subsequently, a woman relative of the accused was dragged out of home, taken to the nearby forest and raped. The incident took place in July 2014.
In another such incident, a village court in Katihar district of Bihar asked a man to marry off his daughter to the youth who allegedly raped her, directing him to pay dowry to the rapist. The village court asked the victim’s family to pay Rs50,000 in cash and a bike to the rapist for the wedding. The incident took place in December 2013.
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