By TCN Staff Reporter,
Patna: Pressure is mounting on the NDA government of Bihar for justice to the victims of the brutal police firing in Forbesganj as Opposition leaders as well as civil society continue to protest demanding stringent action against the police officials involved in the incident and proper compensation to the victims.
The Committee for Justice to Forbesganj Police Firing Victims (CJFPFV), in collaboration with several other civil groups, staged a peaceful protest in front of Bihar Bhawan in the national capital New Delhi on Monday, against the incident in which four innocent Muslims were killed and several others injured on June 3. On the same day, Lokjanshakti Party (LJP) organized a dharna led by its national president Ram Vilas Paswan at R-Block in Bihar’s capital city Patna demanding justice to the victims.
Demanding CBI probe or inquiry by a sitting judge of High Court into the firing and barbaric act of the state police, LJP supremo Ram Vilas Paswan said that he would soon meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek his intervention to ensure justice to the victims. He demanded Rs.10 lakhs to the family of each killed person and Rs. 5 lakh to each injured as compensation.
Paswan, who along with his party workers sat on dharna at Rajghat in New Delhi on the same issue last Friday, alleged the Bihar government for adopting anti-Muslim agenda designed by the RSS and going on the way of Narendra Modi.
Accusing Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi for the Forbesganj killings, he said that the latter personally pressurized the administration of Forbesganj to block the public road to help BJP MLC Ashok Agarwal for setting up the factory. “We want a probe on the role of Modi into the whole incident,” he said.
Four poor Muslims were killed while many others got injuries in police firing on June 3 in Bhajanpur village of Forbesganj block in Araria district of Bihar. The villagers were protesting against the blockage of their road by owners of an upcoming factory of glucose.
Last week Paswan, along with Opposition leader Abdul Bari Siddiqi, visited Forbesganj and met the injured and survivors. Condemning the lodging of FIR against hundreds of villagers, Paswan said: “Instead of punishing the guilty police officers, hundreds of villagers have been named in the FIR which horrified them.”
Notably, after coming under fire from the Opposition, Nitish Kumar ordered an inquiry into the incident by a retired judge of the High Court but so far no development has been seen in this regard. Despite constant pressure, no action has been taken against the officers responsible for the firing. Moreover, barring Rs. 3 lakh ex-gratia to the family of infant Sahil who was killed in the firing, no compensation has been announced for the victims yet.
After the incident, protests and dharna have been on not just in Bihar but in the national capital also. The Congress was the first to stage dharna against the killing in Forbesganj a day after the incident. Party workers also observed a day-long fast in Patna. The RJD also organized a protest march followed by the LJP. Besides, several civil groups also protested in Patna and New Delhi. But, so far, all have failed to move the Bihar CM to take solid decision on the incident.