Patna: A woman was allegedly raped, murdered and then hanged from a tree in a model village in Bihar that earned global acclaim for a unique tradition it adopted to protect girl children.
The body of Anju Devi was found hanging from a tree on Tuesday evening at the Dharhara village in eastern Bihar’s Bhagalpur district, which has a very long tradition of planting at least five fruit-bearing trees for every girl born in the village. Police believe the victim was murdered at a different location and her body hung from the tree to make it look like a suicide.
“This is purely a case of murder although rape with the victim could also not [be] ruled out. We are investigating the case,” the local additional superintendent of police Rama Shankar Rai said on Wednesday.
According to the police, the victim, a mother of four, had divorced her husband and was living with a local villager she earlier eloped with. Devi and her lover returned to the village following heavy pressure from locals. Police suspect her lover could be involved in her murder.
The incident has come as a rude shock to the village, known in common parlance as a village of Mango girls. Every family in the village planted mango trees for every girl child born in the village.
The village caught the attention of the media after former chief minister Nitish Kumar paid a visit to the village to thank the villagers by following such a tradition that sought to protect girls and the environment. Kumar also planted saplings for girls every time he visited the village. He went to the village four times before he resigned from his post in May this year after stating he felt morally responsible for his party’s disastrous performance in the recently held Lok Sabha polls.
By planting trees for girl children, the villagers successfully tackled the dowry problem as well, since by the time the girl was old enough to be married, the fruit trees planted in her name were ready to bear enough fruits to sell and arrange for the money needed for the dowry.
