Days after a disturbing incident involving a schoolgirl in Jamui triggered outrage across Bihar, another video showing the alleged public harassment of a minor girl has emerged from Samastipur.
September 24, 2026
This raises fresh questions about the safety of girls and the growing phenomenon of vigilante-style intimidation on public roads.
The incident took place in Jagatsinghpur village under Karpurigram police station, on the Dam Bypass Road, where the girl had reportedly stopped with a male companion to take photographs.
What followed was captured on a mobile phone.
A video of roughly a minute shows several young men surrounding the girl as she repeatedly tries to move away. One man is seen grabbing her arm and holding her back, while others stand around her, allegedly abusing her and subjecting her to unwanted physical contact.
The girl can be heard protesting and asking them to let her go. Despite her attempts to leave, she is repeatedly prevented from walking away.
The video ends with the girl finally moving away from the group, but it does not show her rescue.
Girl’s Companion Deserts Her
According to reports, the girl had arrived at the location with a boy. The pair reportedly stopped on the roadside to take photographs when local youths approached them.
The male companion was allegedly confronted and assaulted, after which he fled the scene. The girl was then left surrounded by the group.
Reports say the youths questioned the girl about her identity and whereabouts while allegedly abusing and intimidating her. The incident was filmed by someone present at the scene and later circulated widely on social media. The video does not show anyone intervening to protect her.
That absence is perhaps one of the most disturbing elements of the footage: After her companion deserts her, the young girl is visibly struggling to get away while a group of men surrounds her, and the event becomes something to record rather than something to stop.
Police move after video goes viral
Samastipur Police took cognisance of the video after it began circulating on social media.
Superintendent of Police Arvind Pratap Singh described the matter as sensitive and ordered immediate action. Police used the footage to identify the people allegedly involved.
By Thursday, four men had been arrested from their homes, according to police and media reports. They have been identified in reports as Rahul Kumar Paswan, Awadhesh Paswan, Vikas Sharma and Rambabu Sahni.
An FIR has been initiated and police are continuing to investigate the incident and the roles of others who may have been present.
A disturbing pattern
The Samastipur case has emerged only days after another video from Jamui, Bihar, showed a schoolgirl allegedly being publicly harassed and humiliated.
The similarities have intensified concerns about groups of men confronting young women in public spaces, questioning them about their personal lives and taking it upon themselves to decide what behaviour is acceptable.
Such conduct is not “moral policing”. It is intimidation.
A public road is not a courtroom, a group of strangers is not a police force, and a woman’s presence with a male friend is not an invitation for anyone to interrogate, touch, abuse or restrain her.
Investigation underway
Police are continuing to verify the circumstances surrounding the incident and identify everyone involved.
The viral video is being treated as evidence in the investigation, while the identities and precise roles of those involved are being established through police inquiry.
The Samastipur Police gave a statement:
In Samastipur, in a case of molestation of a young woman, Samastipur Police took swift action and arrested some of the accused late at night from their homes. SP Arvind Pratap Singh was first informed of the entire matter by Samastipur Town Media over the phone; SP had said he would take action, and within a few hours, the accused were arrested; the FIR process is ongoing.“
The immediate arrests have brought the accused into custody, but the larger question remains: why did a group of young men feel entitled to surround and physically restrain a minor in the middle of a public road while others watched and recorded?
The answer will not be found merely by arresting those visible in a 59-second video. It lies in confronting the culture that allows public humiliation and harassment to become a spectacle.
JANPATH NEWS NETWORK (JNN)
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