Bihar

Patna, Jul 18 (PTI) Flash floods caused by torrential rains in catchment areas of Nepal have ravaged a dozen districts of Bihar so far, claiming 78 lives and affecting 55 lakh people, the state's disaster management department said Thursday.

Sitamarhi reported the highest number of 18 casualties, followed by Madhubani (14), Araria (12), Sheohar and Darbhanga (nine each), Purnea (seven), Kishanganj (four), Supaul (three) and East Champaran (two), it said in a release.

The death toll increased by 11 since Wednesday, when it stood at 67.

Madhubani (Bihar), Jul 11 (PTI) An 80-year-old woman was allegedly raped by a 15-year-old boy at a village in Madhubani district of north Bihar, following which he was arrested, police said Thursday.

The incident took place at Jamaila village under the Andhrathadi police station limits late Wednesday night, Superintendent of Police, Madhubani, Satya Prakash said.

He said the accused, who is a distant relative and a neighbour of the victim, allegedly raped the woman around midnight and tried to muffle her screams by forcing a piece of cloth into her mouth.

Patna, Jul 5 (PTI) Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi will appear before a court here on Saturday in connection with a defamation suit filed against him by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.

Patna, Jul 1 (PTI) The spectre of a "terrible drought" is looming large on Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said in the assembly on Monday, urging members of both houses of the legislature to discuss means to combat the impending crisis.

Kumar made the grim prediction while intervening in a debate on an adjournment motion on the outbreak of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), which has claimed the lives of more than 150 children across the state.

Patna, June 24; IANS/GANASHAKTI: A Bihar court on Monday ordered an investigation against Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey on charges of negligence that killed nearly 150 children due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in Muzaffarpur district over the past fortnight.

The Chief Judicial Magistrate's (CJM) Suryakant Tiwari ordered the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ADJM) to investigate the charges based on a case filed by social activist Tamanna Hashmi.

Patna/Muzaffarpur, Jun 21 (PTI) Three more children with symptoms of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) died at a hospital in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district Friday taking the toll to 139.

According to the Muzaffarpur district administration, all the three deaths were reported from the government-run SKMCH hospital, which alone has accounted for 104 casualties since June 1.

The Bihar health department had on Thursday released state-wide figures putting the total toll following the outbreak, which has spread across 16 districts, at 136.

21 June 2019; AFP: From lychees to heat, the factors behind almost 120 children dying in eastern India this month are many, but there are two underlying and preventable root causes: poverty and bad governance.

In Bihar state's Hichara, for instance, where the outbreak still rages, there are no toilets, no running water and no cooking gas for the group of thatched huts that make up the village.

Patna, Jun 17 (PTI) Six more children died in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district on Monday, taking the toll due to suspected Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) to 103 and prompting the state government to announce a slew of measures to tackle the situation.

According to a release issued by the district administration, 18 deaths were reported from the Kejriwal hospital and 85 from the Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH), where Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had visited the patients on Sunday and assured their families of all possible help from the Centre.

Muzaffarpur, Jun 16 (PTI) Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Sunday visited the families of the children suffering from suspected acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) even as the death toll rose to 93 in the district.

Vardhan, his deputy Ashwini Kumar Choubey and Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey visited the SKMCH.

"I assure the people of the area, especially the affected families, that the government will extend all possible help and measures to the state government," the Union health minister told reporters here.

A doctor was tied to a tree and his wife and 15-year-old daughter were gang raped in front him by a group of armed men in Bihar’s Gaya district.

According to The New Indian Express, doctor was returning home from his private clinic with his wife and daughter on his motorcycle, he was waylaid by the goons near Sondiha village under Konch police station late on Wednesday evening. The family was also robbed of cash, jewellery and other valuables they had at the time before being released.