Many are concerned about the growing oppression of women. A local court in Jhanjharpur in Bihar's Madhubani district has sentenced a man accused of molesting and indecently treating a woman. The court has ordered the accused to wash the clothes of all the women in the village. The court granted bail to the accused on the same condition.
The court, while hearing the case, said that for the next six months, the accused should wash the clothes of all the women in the village so that he can have respect for women in his mind. Not only that, after the accused washed the women's clothes, he should iron the clothes and return them, the court said. Justice Avinash Kumar, while hearing the case, asked 20-year-old accused Lalan Kumar to respect women.
During the hearing of the case, the court asked the accused what business he was doing. He said that he was doing laundry work. The court then ordered him to wash clothes of women. The village has a population of about 2000 women. This means that the accused will have to wash 2000 women's clothes for free for the next 6 months, after which he will have to iron them and return them. Also, it will be the responsibility of the village sarpanch or gram sevak to see whether the accused Lalan is following the court order properly.
Accused Lalan will have to bring a certificate from the sarpanch or gram sevak for his free work and submit it to the court. The court has sent a copy of the bail application along with the terms and conditions to the sarpanch and the village head. Lalan Kumar was booked at Lokha police station on April 19 on charges of molestation and abusing women. He was later arrested by police. Santosh Kumar Mandal of Lokha police station said that the accused Lalan Kumar had tried to molest and abuse a woman in the village on the night of April 17. On April 18, the victim lodged a complaint at the police station. This was followed by further action.