An administrative staff working at an under-construction and partially functional hospital in Samastipur district of Bihar slashed the private parts of its owner with surgical blades when he and his friends allegedly tried to sexually assault her after a drinking bout in the dry state.

The incident took place on Wednesday. The accused were arrested on Wednesday night on the charge of outraging the modesty of a woman, wrongful restraint and flouting prohibition. A court sent them to jail on Friday.

The woman has been working at the RBS Health Care Centre in Gangapur under Musarigharari police station for over a year. She was on night duty on Wednesday while the hospital owner Sanjay Kumar, an alleged quack and a physiotherapist, was partying and drinking with two of his friends on the hospital premises.

“In the preliminary investigation, it was found that the hospital owner and his associates had switched off the CCTV cameras and locked the hospital from inside before assaulting her,” Samastipur (Sadar) sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Sanjay Kumar Pandey said.

The woman was assaulted in her office room, the police said.

“All three were drunk. The victim slashed the hospital owner’s private parts with a blade in self-defence and ran out. She dialled the police helpline number 112 from a maize field outside the hospital,” the officer said.

A police team immediately reached the spot, rescued the victim and brought her to the police station, Pandey said. “Later, a team of police officers reached the hospital and arrested the owner and his two associates. The hospital owner is being treated at a hospital,” the SDPO said.

There were no patients in the hospital at the time of the crime.

“The blade used by the victim, blood-stained clothes and bedsheets were recovered from the spot. We also seized liquor bottles from the hospital and a separate case will be registered under the prohibition laws,” Pandey said.

Kumar, the hospital owner, is a resident of Teghra in neighbouring Begusarai district. The other two arrested persons have been identified as Sunil Kumar Gupta and Awadhesh Kumar.

Pandey said Sanjay Kumar was receiving treatment at Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital. “He (Kumar) is out of danger now,” the officer said.

The police said Sanjay Kumar was the organising secretary and national membership in-charge of an outfit named Hindu Samaj Party.

Minor gang-raped

Six juveniles allegedly gang-raped a 15-year-old girl in East Champaran district of Bihar and posted a video of the crime on social media. The police have arrested three of the accused after the victim’s father complained on Thursday.

The incident took place on September 4 at a village under Bijdhari police station in the district. The video was uploaded on September 11. The victim and the accused are residents of the same village.

According to the complaint, the girl was held captive and threatened before being gang-raped. Her family did not complain to the police for fear of inviting ignominy.

Train lynching

A 34-year-old railway contract labourer was beaten to death by fellow passengers on a moving Humsafar Express between Lucknow and Kanpur after he allegedly sexually assaulted an 11-year-old girl, the police said on Friday.

The deceased, identified as Prashant Kumar, was a native of Bihar. He was caught by the victim’s family and other passengers after the incident on Tuesday night.

Additional DG (railways) Prakash D said Prashant had boarded the Humsafar Express from Siwan, Bihar, along with the victim’s family. He allegedly offered his berth to the 11-year-old girl and sexually assaulted her while her mother was away.

The girl reported the incident to her mother, who informed her family and other passengers. The victim’s family and passengers thrashed Prashant, who later died in hospital.

Additional reporting by PTI