A woman in Jharkhand’s Palamu district was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly killing a 65-year-old man with an axe in Loto village, under Chatarpur police station, following claims of molestation. The incident, which occurred on Tuesday, prompted an FIR from the victim’s family, leading to the woman’s arrest, police confirmed.

During interrogation, the woman confessed to the act, stating she acted in a fit of rage after the man molested her while she was collecting firewood in a nearby jungle. She further alleged prior instances of harassment by the deceased. The axe used in the crime was seized, and a case has been registered under Section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for murder. The suspect, a daily wage earner from the same village, is in custody as police investigate her claims and the circumstances of the altercation.

The case has sparked local debate, with some residents supporting the woman’s actions as self-defense, while others demand justice for the victim, a widower and father of three. Palamu SP Lokesh Kumar noted that a postmortem report is awaited to confirm the cause of death, with further inquiries into the molestation allegations. The incident highlights rising tensions over crimes against women in Jharkhand, where 1,151 rape and molestation cases were reported in 2024, per NCRB data.

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