Bihar shutdown over gang rape hits rail, road traffic

The shutdown called by the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) to protest the gang rape of six women in Bihar's Bhojpur district hit rail and road traffic, police said Monday.

CPI(M-L) workers and supporters blocked railway tracks, thereby affecting half a dozen trains while disrupting road traffic since early Monday morning.

A district administration official said the shutdown evoked mixed response with normal life in Ara, district headquarters of Bhojpur, partially hit.

Hundreds of CPI(M-L) workers, including its student wing AISA, took to the streets to enforce the shutdown across the state.

They blocked several roads, with movement of vehicles on the Ara-Patna main road severely affected.

Bhojpur Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kumar said: "The CPI(M-L) workers forcibly stopped trains at the Ara railway station by squatting on the tracks and disrupted train traffic at other places to ensure the shutdown is a success."

The CPI(M-L) has demanded stern punishment to the three accused arrested for the crime and a compensation of Rs.10 lakh to each of the victims.

The state government has given employment to five of the six women who said the three men gang raped them at gun-point in Kurmuri village last week.

They will work as cooks to prepare mid-day meals for school children.