A widow suffering from AIDS was allegedly gang-raped in a running train in Bihar last night, amply indicating how the law and order situation in the state has touched a new low. According to an official report compiled by the police department, Bihar has reported 14, 973 rape incidents since 2006. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been in power in the state since November 2005.

Reports said the woman, a resident of Kaimur district, was returning home by the Patna-Bhabhua intercity express on Monday night when two youths got into her bogey, locked it from inside and allegedly took turns to rape her. The incident took place at Bhabua station.

The incident came to light after the GRP personnel guarding the train bogey began checking the bogey when the train reached the station. It was then that they found the bogey locked from inside. When the cops knocked on the door and asked those inside to open it, one accused jumped out of the bogey and fled while another was caught.

According to the victim, she was returning after consulting a doctor in Gaya town and had decided to stay inside the bogey to pass night after the train reached the station late at night. The rape victim suffers from AIDS. Her husband also suffered from this disease and died some time back.

Earlier this month, a 19-year-old girl student doing graduation in Business Administration was kidnapped at gun-point from a prominent city restaurant in Patna and allegedly gang-raped. The victim had gone to a city restaurant located in the Boring Road locality of the state capital when she was kidnapped at gun-point by four youths who later forced her to ride a car parked outside the hotel. Subsequently, she was taken to a four-storeyed building located in the neighbouring Patliputra Industrial Area where she was allegedly gang-raped.

The daredevilry of the accused persons can be gauged from the fact that they even called up the victim to threaten her when she reached police to register her complaint. The panic-stricken girl, who has come to Patna to study, has now returned her native village in Gopalganj after the incident.