protest in Gaya

A CPI(ML)-AIPWA enquiry team visited Patwa Tola in Manpur on 10 January 2019 to find the facts in the Anjana murder incident at Manpur in Gaya. The team consisted of CPI (ML) Central Committee member and AIPWA Bihar State Secretary Com. Shashi Yadav, CPI(ML) Gaya District Secretary Com. Niranjan Kumar, Party State Committee member Com. Rambali Singh Yadav, and Gaya AIPWA Secretary Com. Rita Barnwal. After the Gaya police dubbed the incident a matter of honour killing, comrades Niranjan Kumar and Rita Varnawal once again went to Patwa Tola on the morning of 11 January and enquired into the matter, after which they charged the District administration with turning the entire matter in the wrong direction.

gaya

 

The CPI(ML)-AIPWA enquiry team spoke with victim Anjana Kumari’s family members as well as other members of the Patwa community. The police held and taken away Anjana’s parents, grandfather, and even small children of the house as if they were criminals and is keeping them under constant pressure. They are being forced to admit the matter of ‘honour killing’. In recent times, many such instances have come to light where the police has been keen to turn the direction of the enquiry in order to shield the actual criminals. The enquiry team stated that Anjana comes from a very poor family. The entire family is dependent on earning wages as workers. The Patwa community in Manpur are mainly weavers; only a very few have businesses on a large scale. Accusations of this kind of honour killing in a workers’ family are baseless. After Anjana went missing on 28 December, the family searched for a couple of days at near relations’ houses, after which they went to the Thana to register a report. But the local Buniyadganj Thana refused to register a report under the excuse of naming in the report. Their attitude was evasive. When the matter started getting coverage on social media and print media, the local Thana registered a case against unknown persons on 4 January. On 6 January Anjana’s dead body was found. The body had been thrown into the bushes at Baksariya Tola near Pehani Jode Masjid on the Gaya-Khijarsarai road side. If the administration had exercised alertness in this matter and taken timely measures, Anjana’s life could have been saved. But the District administration and the local Thana remained entirely negligent in the matter.

gaya cbi demand

 

Now the police is saying that the family has stated that Anjana returned on 31 December and disappeared once again after that. On this basis the administration has dubbed it an honour killing. The CPI(ML)-AIPWA enquiry team believes clearly that the police are putting pressure on the victim’s family. They may succumb to police pressure and admit it to be an honour killing because they all come from a very poor working class community. If such had indeed been the case, thousands of Patwa community workers, citizens of Gaya, and social organisations angered by the incident would not have held a historic march through the city to demand justice and a CBI enquiry into the incident. The candle march on 9 January was organised from Manpur to Gaya Tower and attended by people from all communities.

In such a situation, the investigation process of the Gaya police is very much under the shadow of suspicion and therefore the CPI(ML) demands a CBI enquiry into the matter.

CPI(ML) and AIPWA have decided to organise a march in front of the Gaya Collector on 16 January against this incident and the police excesses. They have also demanded action against the police officers responsible for this negligence, employment and compensation for the victim’s family members, and security for the family. Protests against the incident are also being held in Gaya, Jehanabad, Arwal and Nawada on 11 January.