“When we have our own Modi, why should we import one,” Nitish had said during last assembly elections in Bihar. He did not budge to the BJP demand to let Narendra Modi campaign in the State. He strongly objected to a poster with a picture of his and Narendra Modi hand in hand. And to keep his secular image intact and to woo Muslim voters, he also returned Rs. 5 crore flood relief contribution to Modi.
These acts of his paid him richly. As a tactic BJP did not mind to play under the shadow of Nitish Kumar and desisted from plying the party’s favourite communal card. It was seen as a welcome change in Saffronites and gloomed C.M.’s face as a guardian of secular ethos. But Forbesganj incident of June 3 in which four innocent Muslims were killed by the police, has evaporated all illusions. The point made by Nitish Kumar in the above mentioned statement has come true: He need not import a Modi; Modi of Bihar is good enough to play a Modi of Gujarat.
Sequences of events indicate that killings in Village Bhajanpr of Block Forbesganj (District Araria) were not without Sushil’s blessings. It was on Friday, June 3, 2011, when the police opened fire on un-armed villagers and killed four persons including a 6 months old child Sahil Ansari, 25-year-old pregnant Shazmina Khatoon, 22-year-old Mukhtar Ansari and 19-year old Mustafa Ansari in the presence of a BJP MLC, a close associate of Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi. The incident went largely unreported as media has 24×7 focused only on a high profile political drama unfolding in Ramlila Grounds of Delhi by Yoga instructor Ramdev. The incident came to light only three days later, when gruesome video and pictures of the firing were uploaded on the news portal, TwoCircles.net (TCN).
The report said some residents of Village Rampur and Bhajanpur came out after Friday Prayer, to protest against blockade of the connecting road between the two villages for a factory. The police not only opened fire on protesters but also thrashed them and even entered their homes.
In all a plot spread over 35 acre of land was leased in 2009 for a Rs 130 crore project of “The Auro Sundaram International Pvt. Ltd.” to produce maize starch, liquid glucose and captive power by Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA) without providing alternate approach road to the villages. Ever since the work started on the project in December last, Bhajanpur villagers were agitating for the road passage. Saurabh Agarwal, a Director of joint venture, is a son of BJP MLC Ashok Agarwal.
It is alleged that Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi had, during his Forbesganj visit on May 29, exerted pressure on the administration to settle the matter immediately. Mr. Ashok Chowdhury, Director of the company, claims that an agreement on an alternate route was reached on June 1. However it may be concluded that the administration was not alive to the situation. No step was taken to solve the problem by providing alternate road. Instead police force was deployed to provide protection and facilitate construction of BJP leader’s multi million factory blocking the approach road. This naturally caused concern to the villagers.
Under the influence of BJP leaders, who are eager to broaden their base in Eastern Bihar by stirring communal passions, the police thought it tactically fine to “teach a lesson” to Muslim concentration villages. A fact-finding team of ANHAD reported Ashok Agarwal saying, “inko pinjre main band kar denge. Jail banadenge salon ke gaon ko” (Will push them in the cage, and make their villages a prison). The target villages have 90% Muslim population, all poor. The order to fire was given by the SP Garima Mallik, SDO. Mr. Ashok Agarwal, MLC, BJP, and his son Saurabh Agarwal, a Managing Director of Auro Sundram International Company, were present on the scene when the order for firing was issued. Many eye-witnesses told ANHAD that apart from the police, Ashok Agarwal himself fired at people.
The brutality of police is shocking. Nineteen persons were rendered injured and four, including a pregnant woman and an eight-month-old child were killed in direct firing. One youth was shot in the head. Video clip on internet shows jubilant policeman stomping half dead body of a youth and declaring, “They have been punished”. This tells how the police personnel were detailed of their task. In Delhi’s Ramlila Ground the police tackled some 90,000 fanatics and no bullet was fired. In Bihar, the police resorted to firing on a mob of 90+ poor villagers, all unarmed. It was not a situation for the police to fire. Police resort to firing when they mean to fulfil the designs of their bosses.
Mahesh Bhatt and Shabnam Hashmi of ANHAD have alleged indirect culpability of Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi. Modi has pleaded his innocence. However, as Acting CM in the absence of C.M. he has failed to order action against erring officers, and establish his innocence. So far only SDPO, Forbesganj, Ram Kripal Sharma has been transferred and a Home Guard jawan suspended.
After seeing the video clipping Mr. Bhatt reacted: “The police stomping on the bodies of unconscious villagers is an ominous sign. Even if the villagers had really gone berserk, the police should have acted with restraint.” The government though announced on June 7 a probe into the firing but is yet to declare who will head the probe.
No Minister of the State Cabinet has visited the affected villages. However after eight days of the incident Home Secretary Amir Subhani on the instructions of Mr. Nitish Kumar, who is on a visit to China to learn how to boost tourism in the State, visited Forbesganj along with ADG of Police (HQ) Rajyawardhan Sharma and ruled out any financial assistance to the victims of police firing before probe is completed, which may take months and years. Subhani claimed that police fired only ten rounds. If the police account has some substance then it must be ascertained who stood with police to fire more shots to kill four persons and injure 19 others. Some killed persons are stated to have received more than one bullet.
The Government has announced ex-gratia to one victim only. An amount of Rs. 3 lakh will be given to the father of the infant boy Naushad who was returning in the lap of his mother Raheena from hospital. No other relief has been announced for any other killed or injured person, including Raheena who received bullet in her arm and is being treated in a hospital.
In Delhi CPI-M leaders Brinda Karat and Hannan Mollah met Chairman NHRC and apprised him of the blatant violation of human rights in the Forbesganj police firing. The NHRC assured the delegation it would look into the case and take necessary action. The chairman Justice K.G. Balakrishnan was shocked to know the barbarity of a policeman jumping on the dead body of Mustafa Ansari. The memorandum highlights the fact that the firing was unwarranted and unprovoked, no senior members of the administration have cared to visit the families and no action has been taken to lodge FIRs against the guilty police personnel or the MLC Ashok Agarwal.
A committee comprising human rights activists, journalists and intellectuals have raised the issue with Child’s Rights Commission and other forums. The committee also organised a dharna in front of Bihar Bhawan. Mehtab Alam, a member of the committee, said they are demanding fair probe, punishment to the guilty and monetary aid to the victims to the tune of Rs. 10 lakh. The committee has deputed a Human Rights Lawyer Mr. Bilal Kagzi of Gujarat to Forbesganj to provide legal assistance for the victims.
In the meanwhile the episode is taking political colour. BJP leaders have come out openly in support of the deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi and justifying the police action. Some BJP leaders, including state vice-president Lal Babu Prasad, state secretary Surajnandan Mehta, state spokesmen Prem Ranjan Patel, MLA, and Sudhir Kumar Sharma have targeted ANHAD and Bhatt for raising their voice in favour of victims and alleged that they are nurturing anti-Bihari mindset. They said dragging of Modi in the controversy was shameful, uncalled for and condemnable.
On the other hand some Opposition leaders in Patna have become active, albeit half-heartedly, to once again win over Muslim voters. State president of Congress Chaudhary Mehboob Ali Qaiser was quick to demand a CBI probe. Congress and LJP workers have also hit the streets by staging dharnas. A joint delegation of RJD and LJP met Governor Devanand Konwar and apprised him of police atrocity and complained about deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi’s alleged role in the incident. Youth Congress and CPM also registered their protests separately. But there is no report if any relief has been provided for the victims by these political sympathisers. Unfazed of all political noises the police has registered FIR against 3000+ residents of Village Bhajanpur.
After almost two weeks of the incident two separate FIRs have been filed against the erring officers. On June 14 first FIR was filed by Rafiq Ansari, grandfather of Sahil Ansari and on June 15 Fatkan Ansari, father of Mustafa Ansari filed a case in the court of Araria Chief Judicial Magistrate on June 15. Mustafa’s half-dead body was stomped by a man in uniform in the presence of senior officers. Araria SDO, Forbesganj BSO, Forbesganj PS in-charge and Home Guard Sunil Kumar Yadav besides the owner of the Auro Sundaram International Pvt. Ltd; were named as accused. There is no sign yet of alternate approach road. Widespread sense of fear and apprehension is gripping minorities fast.
Strangely, Mr. Nitish Kumar reacted in a casual manner. On June 11, he left for Delhi, en route to China. The brutal violence and the casual approach of the government tell us how little things have changed in Bihar despite high promises to the contrary. The poor and the marginalised are at the mercy of killers in uniform.
[The writer is Gen. Sec. of Forum for Civil Rights, email: syyedagha@hotmail.com]