All 20 accused of parading woman naked, convicted

A court here Wednesday convicted 20 persons in connection with a three-month-old incident wherein a woman was beaten up and paraded naked by a mob which accused her of having murdered a man.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Ramesh Chandra Dwivedi convicted all the 20 persons named as accused in the case relating to the incident that took place in Bihiya locality of Bhojpur district on August 20.

Among the accused, five have been held guilty of parading the woman after tearing off her clothes, while the remaining have been convicted for rioting.

The court has fixed November 30 as the date for announcing the quantum of sentence.

The incident had followed the recovery of 19-year-old Vimalesh Sah, near railway tracks in Bihiya, a day after he had gone missing from his native village of Damodarpur.

A mob had gathered at the spot and suspecting the residents of nearby red-light area of involvement in the murder, went on the rampage, setting fire to shops and hurling stones at trains passing through the area besides assaulting the woman.

Police had to fire several rounds in the air to disperse the mob and bring the situation under control.

Later, with the help of CCTV footage, 20 persons were arrested by the police.