Jharkhand villagers live under constant "trauma, fear", don't stay at night following Oct 1 Hazaribagh police firing

By A Representative
A high-profile civil society fact-finding team (FFT), set up by the Delhi Solidarity Group, has said in a report that more than a month after the gruesome death of four persons in police firing at Badkagaon, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, villagers are under “constant trauma and fear”, with cops threatening them to “cause further killings if they do not part with their land.”
FFT consisted of Jawahar Lal Kaul (former additional and district judge, Uttar Pradesh); Prof Chauthi Ram Yadav ( Banaras Hindu University); Prof Vinod Kumar (National Law University, Delhi); Priya Pillai (environmental activist); Madhuresh Kumar (National Convener, National Alliance of People’s Movement - NAPM); Himshi Singh (NAPM); and Umesh Babu (Delhi Solidarity Forum).
It visited Badkagaon on November 7-9 to inquire into the incident following protest by thousands of unarmed villagers belonging to 28 villages of of Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, sitting on dharna against “forcible land acquisition” for the state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and a private mining company.
FFT report says, the dharna, whichbegan on September 15, and was supported by local MLA, Nirmal Devi. On the day of the incident, October 1, at around 3 am, police party raided the dharna site and heavily lathicharged for arresting Devi. At 4.30- 5,00 am police forcibly picked her up and moved away.
As the police convoy was moving, the villagers tried to stop the vehicle and free Devi. In this process, it opened multiple rounds of fire indiscriminately, resulting in the death of Mehtab Ansari, 30; Ranjan Kumar Das, 17; Abhishek Roy, 19; and Pawan Kumar, 17, got killed.
Mehtab Ansari,a daily wager, got caught in the police firing, and died on the spot; Abhishek died while he was on the way to bring his younger brother from tuition; Ranjan Kumar and Pawan Kumar were also returning from tuition, when bullets hit them.
FFT says, ever since, the villagers are “extremely terrified”, adding, “Many women and children still do not stay in the village after sunset due to fear of arrest and brutalization. Many villagers are still absconding due to fear of arrest and fake encounters.”
“No FIR has been registered against the guilty police persons”, the FFT says, adding, “No compensation has yet granted to the families of the deceased and the injured”. In fact, the injured are getting their medical treatment in private hospital borrowing lakhs of rupees from private money lenders. They are now under a heavy debt.
“Looking at the records and the testimonies of the victims and the villagers it is clear that the due process has not been followed in the land acquisition process”, FFT says, adding, despite the fact that the Forest Rights Act, 2006 makes it mandatory taking consent of the villagers and the Gram Sabha, it was not obtained. Even the public hearing held was “fake”.
On inquiring about the incident, FFT says, deputy commissioner Ravi Kumar Shukla “tried to justify the killing on the grounds of the exercise of the right to private defense as the villagers had beaten up the circle officer. However, the people’s view was that the circle officer was beaten up by the villagers after the police killed the said four persons.”

Comments

Gujarat Information Commission issues warning against misinterpretation of RTI orders

By A Representative The Gujarat Information Commission (GIC) has issued a press note clarifying that its orders limiting the number of Right to Information (RTI) applications for certain individuals apply only to those specific applicants. The GIC has warned that it will take disciplinary action against any public officials who misinterpret these orders to deny information to other citizens. The press note, signed by GIC Secretary Jaideep Dwivedi, states that the Right to Information Act, 2005, is a powerful tool for promoting transparency and accountability in public administration. However, the commission has observed that some applicants are misusing the act by filing an excessive number of applications, which disproportionately consumes the time and resources of Public Information Officers (PIOs), First Appellate Authorities (FAAs), and the commission itself. This misuse can cause delays for genuine applicants seeking justice. In response to this issue, and in acc...

Targeted eviction of Bengali-speaking Muslims across Assam districts alleged

By A Representative A delegation led by prominent academic and civil rights leader Sandeep Pandey visited three districts in Assam—Goalpara, Dhubri, and Lakhimpur—between 2 and 4 September 2025 to meet families affected by recent demolitions and evictions. The delegation reported widespread displacement of Bengali-speaking Muslim communities, many of whom possess valid citizenship documents including Aadhaar, voter ID, ration cards, PAN cards, and NRC certification.

'Govts must walk the talk on gender equality, right to health, human rights to deliver SDGs by 2030'

By A Representative With just 64 months left to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), global health and rights advocates have called upon governments to honour their commitments on gender equality and the human right to health. Speaking ahead of the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), experts warned that rising anti-rights and anti-gender pushes are threatening hard-won progress on SDG-3 (health and wellbeing) and SDG-5 (gender equality).

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Is U.S. fast losing its financial and technological edge under Trump’s second tenure?

By Dr. Manoj Kumar Mishra* The United States, along with its Western European allies, once promoted globalization as a democratic force that would deliver shared prosperity and balanced growth. That promise has unraveled. Globalization, instead of building an even world, has produced one defined by inequality, asymmetry of power, and new vulnerabilities. For decades, Washington successfully turned this system to its advantage. Today, however, under Trump’s second administration, America is attempting to exploit the weaknesses of others without acknowledging how exposed it has become itself.

Gandhiji quoted as saying his anti-untouchability view has little space for inter-dining with "lower" castes

By A Representative A senior activist close to Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar has defended top Booker prize winning novelist Arundhati Roy’s controversial utterance on Gandhiji that “his doctrine of nonviolence was based on an acceptance of the most brutal social hierarchy the world has ever known, the caste system.” Surprised at the police seeking video footage and transcript of Roy’s Mahatma Ayyankali memorial lecture at the Kerala University on July 17, Nandini K Oza in a recent blog quotes from available sources to “prove” that Gandhiji indeed believed in “removal of untouchability within the caste system.”

'MGNREGA crisis deepening': NSM demands fair wages and end to digital exclusions

By A Representative The NREGA Sangharsh Morcha (NSM), a coalition of independent unions of MGNREGA workers, has warned that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is facing a “severe crisis” due to persistent neglect and restrictive measures imposed by the Union Government.

On Teachers’ Day, remembering Mother Teresa as the teacher of compassion

By Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ It is Teachers’ Day once again! Significantly, the day also marks the Feast of St. Teresa of Calcutta (still lovingly called Mother Teresa). In 2012, the United Nations, as a fitting tribute to her, declared this day the International Day of Charity. A day pregnant with meaning—one that we must celebrate as meaningfully as possible.

Gujarat minority rights group seeks suspension of Botad police officials for brutal assault on minor

By A Representative A human rights group, the Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) Gujarat, has written to the Director General of Police (DGP), Gandhinagar, demanding the immediate suspension and criminal action against police personnel of Botad police station for allegedly brutally assaulting a minor boy from the Muslim community.

Counterview

Search This Blog