By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: Members of the civil society have asked the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to immediately punish all the officials responsible for the Forbesganj firing in which four people including one woman and a six-month-old infant, were brutally killed in Araria district of Bihar by the Bihar police.
Under the banner of Committee for Justice to Forbesganj Police Firing Victims (CJFPFV), members of the civil society staged a peaceful protest in front of Bihar Bhawan on Monday against the blatant case of human rights violation.
Mahtab Alam addressing the protesters
While addressing the protesters, Mahtab Alam, member of CJFPFV said, “A gruesome video recording, of the policemen jumping and trampling upon the faces and bodies of injured, half dead young men of Frobesganj, has exposed the depths to which the state machinery has fallen in the name of upholding ‘law and order’, and the reality of ‘good governance’, where the poor and minorities continue to remain vulnerable.”
Manisha Sethi, president of Jamia Teachers Solidarity Association (JTSA) criticized the half hearted measures of the Nitish Kumar government. “Though the government has announced a judicial probe into the incident, this can only be seen as a half-hearted measure taken under pressure of mounting criticism given that it has still not bothered to name the person who will head it; the ex-gratia compensation of Rs three lakhs, and that too to only one victim is a mockery of this horrific tragedy and injustice,” Sethi said.
The protestors sent a memorandum to the Governor of Bihar through the resident commissioner of Bihar Bhawan in which they demanded time-bound judicial probe under a sitting High Court Judge and immediate dismissal of SP, SDO and all other senior police, administrative officers present on the spot at the time the firing was ordered.
Other demands of the Committee include:
1. A thorough enquiry into the role of the BJP councilor Ashok Agarwal for firing at the people.
2. Compensation of Rs 10 lakhs to the families of those killed and Govt jobs to one person from each family of those killed.
3. Compensation of Rs One lakh to the injured and treatment of all injured at government expense.
4. Immediate lifting of the blockade on the road to facilitate free movement of the villagers.
5. An apology from the Chief Minister and the Government of Bihar for this incident.