patna

Updated: Oct 20, 2017 21:02 IST

Patna Police have named eight people, including a sarpanch in an FIR on Friday for handing out vigilante justice to a 54-year-old barber who was allegedly made to spit and lick his saliva and beaten with slippers by women in Ajnaur village in Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s home district of Biharsharif.

Mahesh Thakur’s fault was that he had entered the house of the sarpanch of Ajaypur panchayat Surendra Yadav Wednesday evening when no male members were at home. He claims that he was unaware that only female members were home at that time.

The infuriated sarpanch convened a meeting in the house one Dharmendra Yadav of the village on Thursday to decide on a punishment for the barber for his ‘audacity’.

“He perhaps went to the house of sarpanch on Wednesday evening for tobacco when no male member was present,” Nalanda DM SM Thyiagrajan told HT.

He said a panchayat was called a day later and the punishment was pronounced for beating him with slippers by the women.

The DM said that Biharsharif sub-divisional officer (SDO) Sudhir Kumar had been asked to visit the spot and gather details about the turn of events. “The victim has confirmed the incident. A thorough inquiry has been ordered and action will be taken on the report received,” he added.

When contacted Nalanda superintendent of police Sudhir Kumar Podika told HT that a case has been lodged with Noorsarai police station against eight persons, including mukhiya Dayanand manjhi and Dharmendra Yadav. He said prima facie the name of sarpanch Surendra Yadav has not come up so far in the case.

The DM and SP, meanwhile, visited the place of occurrence in the evening to take stock of the situation.

Senior BJP leader and road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav said that such incidents had no place in a civilised society and could not be tolerated. “Strong action will be taken against the culprits to prevent any recurrence,” he added

The punishment handed out to Thakur has been widely condemned on social media.

“How could a human being behave like this with a fellow human being over such small matters,” said one.

Another one tried to malign the entire state with an isolated incident, tweeting: “Quite common in Bihar.” There was yet another tweet on the bizarre happening: “When will Bihar move out of Stone Age.”