The Bihar government is facing criticism from within the ruling National Democratic Alliance as well as the opposition after a photograph of a minor girl allegedly subjected to sexual assault in Jamui was posted on Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary’s official X handle and subsequently removed.

An FIR has since been registered against an employee of the Chief Minister’s Office in connection with the post.

The girl and her parents had met Choudhary at his official residence in Patna, where the photograph was taken. The image, which showed the chief minister with the girl and her family, was removed within 15 minutes, but not before it was circulated and downloaded on social media, The Hindu reported.

The police registered an FIR at the Secretariat police station against Sagar Prasad, an official posted in the CMO. The complaint stated that circulation of the photograph could compromise the privacy and dignity of the minor and lead to disclosure of her identity.

The controversy comes days after the Jamui incident in which a Class 10 girl and a male friend were allegedly stopped and assaulted by a group of youths while returning from coaching classes. Videos of the incident subsequently surfaced on social media, prompting police action. According to reports, all the accused in the case have since been arrested.

The photograph row has added to the political pressure on the newly formed Bihar government. Opposition leaders criticised the decision to publish the image, alleging that it exposed the identity of a minor victim. The FIR against the CMO employee followed the criticism and demands for action over the post.

The Jamui case is also among several recent incidents involving the alleged harassment or sexual assault of women and girls in the state that have circulated widely on social media.

In another case, police registered a case against three people after a video purportedly showing a woman being harassed at Mandar Hills in Banka emerged online. Police said the incident occurred in June, despite the video carrying a September 3 timestamp.

On Friday (September 25), another video showing a woman allegedly being harassed by a group of men surfaced on social media, adding to concerns over the law-and-order situation in Bihar.

The developments have also drawn criticism from Chirag Paswan, Union food processing minister and a key NDA ally. Speaking to reporters in Patna, Paswan said the repeated incidents involving women were a matter of serious concern.

“The incidents that keep coming to light involving young women are a matter of extremely serious concern and are undoubtedly shameful as well. For me, it is a matter of extreme concern that criminals are daring to carry out such incidents even under our government’s watch,” Paswan told reporters in Patna.

Paswan also questioned whether arrests and police encounters alone could prevent such incidents and called for accountability within the administration.

“Accountability must also be fixed for those officials in whose presence such shameful events take place and who fail to prevent them,” he said.

The latest controversy comes after Choudhary had earlier faced criticism over his response to the Jamui assault. He had claimed that the accused “would not have been arrested had they not uploaded reels of the assault on the minor girl”.

One of the main accused was subsequently shot in the leg by police on September 22 in what authorities described as an “encounter”.

With the photograph issue now resulting in an FIR against a CMO employee, scrutiny has widened from the handling of the original crime to the treatment and protection of the minor victim’s identity after the incident.