Patna: Even as protests continue over the brutal torture of Dalits in the West Indian state of Gujarat a couple of days ago, two youths were badly beaten up and allegedly urinated upon by a group of influential villagers in Bihar on Friday for stealing a bike, drawing the ire of opposition parties.
The incident took place at Babu Tola locality under Paru block in Muzaffarpur district on Wednesday night. A case has been registered against 11 persons with the police station over the attack.
According to the complaint, two youths from a neighbouring village had gone to see a fair organised during a yagna at the village when some residents caught and thrashed them, charging the victims with stealing a bike from the fair. Subsequently, the accused also allegedly urinated into their mouth.
“They were moving around the fair, watching goods being sold at the stalls, when some people caught them and beat them up before urinating in to their mouth. They blamed them for stealing a bike,” said Sunita Devi, mother of one of the victims, in the complaint registered with the police. She accused Mahesh Thakur, the husband of a local mukhiya (village council chief), of instigating villagers into urinating into their mouth.
The woman alleged the accused persons also assaulted her husband, Krishna Paswan, when he tried to save the children.
The police are investigating the case. “We are investigating the case. Based on the investigation, the action will be initiated against the accused persons,” the Muzaffrapur district police chief, Vivek Kumar, told Gulf News over phone today. He added a deputy superintendent of police-ranked official had been deputed to probe the matter.
The opposition mounted blistering attacks on the government over the issue. “Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is attacking the Gujarat government for beating of Dalits there [in Gujrat] but even more shocking incident has taken place in his own state. We have come to know some powerful people urinated into the mouth of some Dalit youths. This is a matter of serious concern. The government should immediately initiate action against the accused persons,” former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi said. Manjhi heads the Hindustani Awam Morcha, a party he formed after his expulsion from the ruling Janata Dal United (JD-U).
The JD-U promised instant action against the accused while condemning the incident. “The incident reflects low mentality of the accused persons. We will ruthlessly treat such people and arrest all the accused persons within 24 hours. None will be spared,” said JD-U spokesperson Ajay Alok.
This is not the first incident of Dalit atrocity. Earlier, the villagers in Madhubani district had allegedly cleaned a temple and washed the idols within with water from river Ganga — considered holy by Hindus — after Manjhi visited the temple to offer prayers in August 20014. This prompted the government to order a probe into the incident. Manjhi comes from the poor rat-eating community of Mushars.
