By Imran Khan
Patna, Sep 17 (IANS) Poverty-stricken nomads in Bihar are angry and upset over the lynching of 10 suspected thieves by a mob in Vaishali district last week. The victims were Kueris, a sub-group of a nomadic tribe called Nat.
Many nomads have reportedly fled from villages to towns while others are planning to migrate out of Bihar, fearing a threat to their lives in the wake of the lynching.
Over 5,000 people had ran after a group of men, calling them thieves, and lynched 10 of them early Thursday in Dhelpurwa village near Hajipur, about 40 km from here.
The horror-struck nomads have demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation into the gory incident. They have also questioned the silence of human rights bodies.
“The opposition in the state has condemned the incident, but they are yet to demand a CBI probe,” said Moti Khalifa, a Nat community leader.
Nats have threatened to launch a state-wide protest if the state government failed to order a CBI probe.
“We have no faith in the Bihar police and the state administration. The truth will never come out if a state agency is given the task of carrying out a probe,” Lal Babu Khalifa, state president of the Akhil Bharatiya Nat Vikas Sangh, told IANS here Monday.
He also demanded immediate arrest of the guilty on murder charges.
Savita Natraj, another leader of the community, has demanded a compensation of Rs.500,000 to the family of each of the victims and a government job.
“We will not remain silent till our demands are met by the government. We will approach national and international rights bodies for justice,” said Natraj, chief of the Sasaram block village council in Rohtas district.
She said hundreds of Nats staged a day-long sit-in Sunday against the killing.
The community was also deeply hurt by the treatment meted to the victims. The half-burnt dog-eaten bodies of eight of the 10 men were recovered from Konharaghat on the banks of the Ganga Sunday, though police had claimed they had cremated all bodies last week. The police had reportedly thrown the half-burnt bodies of the victims into the river rather than carry out a full cremation.
In a damage-control move after the gory discovery, the state government transferred Vaishali District Magistrate Lallan Singh and Superintendent of Police Anupama Nilekar. The officers-in-charge of Hajipur and Rajapaker police stations and the Vaishali district welfare officer have been suspended.
Meanwhile, a team of the National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-nomadic Tribes has begun a probe into the lynching.
The Bihar government has already ordered a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probe into the incident. “The government has ordered a CID probe to ascertain whether the victims were indeed thieves,” a senior home department official said.