Nitish Kumar must answer

4 dead, 15 police bullets into protesting villagers test Nitish
Share |

Santosh Singh
Tags : Police firing in Araria, Muslims killed, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Patna Medical College
Posted: Sat Jun 11 2011, 00:43 hrs
Patna:

The death of four people, all Muslims, in last Friday’s police firing in Araria, including a seven-month-old infant and a pregnant woman, is turning out to be a major embarrassment for the Nitish Kumar government.
It has ordered a judicial probe but now faces charges of police brutality and political patronage. For, the son of a Katihar BJP legislator is the co-owner of the proposed maize starch factory in Forbesganj, the object of the protests. Villagers allege that the boundary wall meant for the factory will cut off the link road to their village. The district administration has offered an alternative road but villagers were divided over it when they protested last Friday and were fired upon.

Each of the victims has a story of police callousness and neglect. Tahiran Khatoon lost her 18-year-old son Mustaq Ansari. She says her son, who ran a betel shop to support the family, was on his way to offer Friday prayers when he was picked up by police who fired four bullets into his torso and after the boy fell down, kicked him and waited for him to die.


Ads by Google
All-New Fiesta Revealed
First in class Cruise Control, Superior Safety & Fuel Efficiency
India.Ford.com/All-N
Coffee Making Machines
Italy's favourite coffee machines & capsules in India. Know more now!
Fresh-Honest.com
Real Estate @ 99acres.com
Buy,Sell,Rent all Kinds of Property Over 200000 Listings. Search Now!
99acres.com
Mustaq is one of the four killed in police firing in Araria, an incident which is turning out to be a major embarrassment for the Bihar government. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has ordered a judicial inquiry as victims’ families reached Patna today.

Distraught grandfather Rafiq Ansari said his seven-month-old grandson Naushad, being carried by his mother Tahine Khatoon, was killed by two bullets in his back. Tahine is recovering at the Patna Medical College and Hospital. Shazmin Khatoon, 27, who was pregnant, was killed by six bullets. Amina Khatoon’s son Mukhtar Ansari, 22, was killed after he received four police bullets including three in his head.

The postmortem report revealed that 15 of 16 bullets hit upper parts of victims’ bodies.

Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA) gave 33 acres on lease to Auro Sundaram International Private Limited, jointly owned by Saurav Agrawal, son of Katihar BJP MLC Ashok Agrawal and Uttarkhand businessman Ashok Choudhary.

The Rs 130-crore project, due to start by 2012, will manufacture maize starch and 13 other products including

glucose. A 3MW captive power plant is also part of the project.

The victims’ families claim they have been using the road — now falling in the proposed factory premises — for the last 50 years. Questioning the fact that no compensation has been paid, the victims allege that Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi did little to defuse tension when he visited Araria on May 29.

Modi told The Indian Express: “I had gone to Araria to attend a personal function and had no knowledge of the Forbesganj factory problem. Ashok Agrawal is a businessman and his son got the BIADA land after having fulfilled all norms”.

He said that whatever happened was “unfortunate and condemnable”.

Katihar MLC Ashok Agrawal said he became an MLC after his son got the BIADA land. He blamed the incident

on the local political fight between the village mukhiya and his rival.

Said Nitish Kumar: “The government has already instituted judicial inquiry into the incident. The government will go by findings of the inquiry report and act accordingly”.