In what appears to be a case of ‘instant justice’, a rapist, who outraged the modesty of a married woman in Bihar’s Vaishali district, was hit by the victim with a cricket bat. The grievous injury proved fatal as the perpetrator of the crime died soon after he had sexually assaulted the woman.





The incident took place at Imadpur village under Baligaon Police Station in Vaishali, some 50 km from Patna. The victim, who took the drastic step in self-defence, later surrendered before the Vaishali police.



According to the police sources, Pankaj Patel barged into the house of Ranjit Singh and raped his wife while she was fast asleep. In order to get out of Patel’s stranglehold, the woman used a cricket bat lying there and hit the rapist hard. Patel died on the spot.



A counter case was lodged by Patel’s mother Sumitra Devi, who alleged in her police complaint that Ranjit, along with three people, entered her house and hit her son following which he died instantly.



Ranjit’s wife, however, told the police how she used the bat in self-defence when Patel had sexually assaulted her in midnight. The rape victim, who later surrendered, has been sent to jail.



In another incident, three people, who had gang-raped a woman and her daughter on April 18, were arrested by the Bettiah police in Champaran district.



They committed the crime when the woman along with her 16-year-old daughter had gone to a nearby field to relieve themselves.