india

Updated: Oct 04, 2018 08:03 IST

A 45-year-old woman was allegedly gangraped in Patna district of Bihar while she was taking a bath in the River Ganga during a religious ritual on Monday, police said on Wednesday.

Officials said two men, including the person who captured the crime on video and later shared it on social media, have been arrested.

The incident came to the fore after the video was widely shared on social media late on Tuesday evening. In the video, the woman is seen pleading to the accused and asking them to consider the “sanctity” of the Ganga, which she addressed as “mother”, in Barh police station area in rural Patna.

Local villagers alleged that when the woman reached the concerned police station to lodge her complaint against the culprits, the policemen refused to register a first information report.

Barh Police swung into action only after they came across the viral video of the crime and superintendent of police (rural) Anand Kumar took up the case to monitor it.

Police said the woman was dragged out of the river by a man named Shivpujan Mahto, a driver, and took turns to rape her along with others.

Confirming the incident, Patna senior superintendent of police Manu Maharaaj said they have arrested two men, including Mahto and Vishal, who recorded the crime. A minor girl, whom Mahto had lured into accompanying him, was also rescued, Maharaaj added.

The incident comes less than two weeks after the principal and clerk of a private school in Patna’s Phulwarisharif were arrested for allegedly raping a Class 5 student repeatedly in the school premises for over nine months.