Protests in Bihar After A Woman Was Paraded Naked In Ara

PROTESTS were held on 21 and 22 August following the incident where a woman was beaten, stripped naked and paraded in the streets of Bihiya in Ara in Bihar. The woman was beaten by a mob after a body of a man who had gone missing a few days earlier was found near a red-light area in Bihiya. Immediately after this horrific incident, AIPWA along with other women’s organizations called for a protest condemning this violence and demanding resignation of Bihar CM. Addressing the protests the AIPWA leaders Meena Tiwari and Saroj Chaube pointed out how the state of Bihar was turning increasingly unsafe for women. From Muzaffarpur to Nalanda to Patna to Bihiya, the women of the state were becoming vulnerable to a rapid increase in sexual and physical violence against them. The JDU-BJP government had completely failed to protect the woman of the state. Rather in many cases the accused had been found to enjoy the patronage of the leaders of the ruling allies. They also exposed the complete breakdown of law and order in Bihar whereby on a mere suspicion a woman can be dragged out of her home and beaten and stripped in an area close to a police station.