Gaya Police Brutality Condemned
Adhatpur village in Belaganj Block in Gaya became the victim of extreme brutality by the Gaya police. The residents of Adhatpur are troubled by illegal sand mining and were protesting peacefully to protect their livelihoods and their fields. The CPIML found that a few sand mafia elements were also in police uniform and were among the perpetrators of the brutality. The villagers including women showed the injury marks from the police beating. The women said that the police forcibly entered houses and beat them up. Nisha Devi, Lalmuni Devi and Lallti Devi were among the women who narrated the horror of the incident to the team. They recounted how the police smashed a little girl Priyanshu Kumari on the ground and did not spare even disabled Shivpati Devi. The team found that the doors and windows of half a dozen houses had been smashed and bikes and boxes were damaged and broken. The villagers allege that the police broke the boxes and stole the money and jewellery kept inside.
Villagers Rambalak Yadav and Ganeshi Yadav said that applications and letters are going on with the administration against the construction of a sand ghat near the village. The villagers have receipts for these, but the mining department and administration refused to listen to anything and have been registering false cases against the villagers under Main Thana Case No. 12/20 and 07/21.
Instead of finding a solution the police resorted to brutality against the villagers.
A CPIML team led by Arwal MLA Mahanand Singh, went to District on 16 Feb to meet the victims' families and heard the details of the incident and the police brutality.
MLA Mahanand Singh said that the Adhatpur incident is a prime example of the Nitish government's repressive anti-poor policies and police brutality. This atrocity has been perpetrated by the police-administration-sand mafia nexus in order to give free license to the sand mafia and override the villagers' concerns under cover of government tenders. This is being done across Bihar but the people will tolerate it no longer. He demanded a high level enquiry into the matter, immediate dismissal of the Thana chief and action against all the guilty officials and said that the government would have to answer for this in the next Assembly session.
The CPIML team identified local sand mafia members by name and said that the police and administration are in connivance with them.
A protest was organized on 19 February across the District against this brutal incident and a Belaganj Bandh was held on 21 February.
