How social media pressure forced police action in Begusarai

In June, a shocking event took place in the Begusarai district of Bihar. According to the victim, she had been sexually assaulted by one of her neighbours while her husband was away from the village, working as a labourer. Instead of helping the victim go to the nearest police station to file a complaint about the crime, the community formed a kangaroo court called the panchayat.

In the form of a show trial, the community gathered to try both the survivor and the accused together. To punish the survivor, she was made to embarrass herself in front of everyone in the village by licking the spit from the floor. It is noteworthy that for almost two months, this blatant violation of human rights was concealed from any state institutions of law.

The Role of Viral Media in Breaking Institutional Inertia

In mid-July, the wall of silence was broken when video footage of the incident, showing the public humiliation, took off on various social media sites. The viral video immediately caused an online storm and made the incident known to many people.

Responding to the online furore, the official law enforcement mechanisms came into action. On August 1, an FIR was filed. Police launched a double inquiry into the case regarding the sexual abuse incident and the extrajudicial acts performed by the villagers. Law enforcement operations led to arrests and raids.

Conflicting Local Accounts and the Question of Consent

During the process of official investigation, there were conflicting local accounts about the incident. While the complainant claimed that she had been twice victimised in her house, some local inhabitants held conflicting accounts. Some villagers claimed that the encounter between the survivor and the accused was consensual and that they were discovered by their neighbours, which led to the formation of the informal body.

These conflicting accounts point out the consistent problem in the rural administration, which is the tendency of informal groups to frame legal cases of sexual violence as moral issues and consensual acts. Despite the conflicting accounts regarding the initial encounter, the use of physical degradation, such as forcing people to do degrading things, is illegal.

Extra-legal adjudication: a recurrent structural problem

The cases that happened in Begusarai are not unique or unusual. There is a continuous structural reliance on extralegal forms of resolving disputes in rural Bihar. Cases of the kind that are seen in the Begusarai area have been reported earlier, for example, in Khagaria district, where victims are made to indulge in degrading acts such as licking spit or drinking urine following a complaint.

Historically, informal village courts have exercised their jurisdiction to circumvent the law, protect local interests, or uphold the prevailing social hierarchy. In cases of sexual violence, these councils often prefer maintaining the prestige of the village rather than following legal procedures.

Digital Vigilance Versus Legal Accountability Mechanism

This example demonstrates how the use of modern digital media has become an alternative mechanism for accountability in rural India. Where social pressure prevents people from getting into the official justice process, using mobile phone video allows them to overcome bureaucratic procedures, making the government respond due to public pressure.

But the use of viral media for attracting the police is far from being perfect. Viral justice is reactive in nature; depending on whether there is a video, it goes viral or not. There are many examples of extrajudicial punishment and violence committed in remote places that do not reach the level of virality, so there is no institutional help. It is necessary to create better opportunities to use the law at the grassroots level, hold illegal tribunals accountable and react without waiting for media response.

Systemic Immunity and Ineffectiveness of Primary Law Enforcement

One of the key problems brought forth by the Begusarai incident is the ineffectiveness of primary law enforcement. As per the usual procedure, the role of village-level administration and local beat constable would be to keep track of community happenings and immediately report any heinous crimes committed to the station house officer, particularly crimes that involved sexual assault.

Any serious crimes that go to an illegal tribunal instead indicate the huge gap between the state officials and the rural populace. The fact that it took almost two months for law enforcement to act shows how the established hierarchy allows illegal activities to exist without the judicial process touching them. Without local administration that actively identifies and disrupts extrajudicial tribunals, these vulnerable victims will continue to be isolated in their immediate surroundings and not receive the protection of law until they seek outside help.

Sociological Elements of Punishment

This particular sociological element, which involves punishing individuals by making them do things that lead to public shame, is intricately linked to sociological elements of controlling power structures within caste or gender hierarchies.

The humiliation of individuals serves as a form of spectacle in many agrarian communities to ensure compliance and prevent any questioning of the norms within the society. Through public shame, the victim becomes stripped of all his/her social identity and loses any chance to take up matters through formal legal channels. Whenever a charge of sexual assault is brought up, these informal forums look at the charge as one of collective honour rather than a personal violation.

Reforms in Rural Governance and Victim Protection

There needs to be an intervention that will work towards changing the structural problem of parallel justice systems, beyond the prosecution process after a crime has been committed.

The arrest of both the perpetrator of the crime and the members of the panchayat is an important milestone, but sustained reform will need to involve creating a safer avenue through which women can report these crimes without the risk of facing immediate social retribution. Legal education and increasing access to institutional mechanisms like women’s 181helpliness, in addition to stringent laws against kangaroo courts, are essential to bringing down the extra-legal governance structure.

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