By IANS
Patna : The Crime Investigation Department (CID) of the Bihar police filed a charge sheet Wednesday against 10 people accused of lynching 10 men on suspicion of being thieves two months ago.
The charge sheet was filed at the office of the chief judicial magistrate of Hajipur court, Vaishali district, police said Thursday.
On Sep 13, a mob lynched 10 men with bamboo sticks, iron rods and bricks in Dhelpurwa village in Vaishali district, 40 km from here. The police had first claimed the victims were thieves, but a subsequent inquiry showed they were nothing of the sort.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar handed over the case to the CID soon after the incident.
Police have already attached the properties of all ten suspects after the court issued non-bailable warrants against them. All are absconding.
On Monday Nitish Kumar met the families of the victims at his janata darbar and promised them compensation of Rs.100,000 each and land under the Indira Awas Yojana.
The Akhil Bhartiya Kuraiyar (ABK), an NGO fighting for the rights of the Kueri tribals, has urged the state government to give the kin of the victims compensation of Rs.500,000, a house and a job to one member of each family. All the victims were Kueris.
Meanwhile, the families of those killed said they were struggling to make ends meet, as the state government has not provided them with adequate compensation.
“We have been facing problem to survive since my husband was killed two months ago,” said Nirma Devi, wife of Bara Keuri, one of the 10 men lynched.
“The message is clear. We are not important for the champions of social justice because our community does not fetch votes for politicians,” said Surendra Nat, a social activist.
“Politicians have not bothered to take up the issue of human rights violations because the community has been deprived of the fundamental right to vote as their names are not in the voters lists,” added Karu Nat, another social worker.