CHHATTISGARH UNDER BJP RULE

 And Now A Harijan Is Killed In Police Custody

 S Kumar

ON October 5, a 36 years old young man was called to Pipariya police station in Raipur district. But, then, he did not return to his village; only his dead body was brought there next day.

Bannu Satnami, a resident of village Sora, used to work as helper in a minibus but afterwards left the job and began to work as daily paid worker in the village. On October 5, a policemen form Pipariya police station came to his house at about 3 p m, told him that he was called to the police station for some interrogation and asked him to accompany him. Bannu Satnami then told the policeman that his wife had given birth to a girl child and that there was a function in his house, so it is not be possible to go to the police station. When told that a man named Bhagwat was waiting at the police station and wanted to talk to him, Bannu told the policeman that he did not know anybody called Bhagwat. Yet the policeman forced him to go to the police station. There was no case against Bannu Satnami.

Bhagwat was kept in the police lockup in Pipariya on a complaint that he had got a country-made revolver and had shown it to a person. But, strangely, while Bhagwat was relesed, Bannu Satnami was detained in the police station. This news of his detention was conveyed to Bannu’s sister who lives in a nearby village.

Bannu’s sister Sand in the morning and sent her father to Pipariya to inquire about her brother. She also met a close relation of a sarpanch of the area and requested him to take her to the police station so that she could meet her brother there. Till then she did not know that he brother was no more alive. When she reached the police station, she found her brother’s dead body lying beside the nearby transformer.

Having seen the dead body near the police station, the people of the area began seething with resentment and a large number of people from surrounding areas started assembling in front of the police station, asking for punishment to the culprits. Bannu Satnami’s sister and father also joined the demand and opposed the removal of the dead body from there. The police resorted to lathicharge, then to firing in the air and also lobbed teargas shells on the people. They also entered the nearby houses to beat the people. Even the cyclists and two-wheeler riders were not spared. Section 144 was imposed. The younger brother of the diseased was also beaten and ill-treatment meted out to his sister.

In the afternoon itself, a CPI(M) consisting of S Kumar, Dharmaraj Mahapatra, A K Shukla and Sheetal Prasad went to Bannu Satnami’s village and met his sister and father. His sister told the delegation that Bannu Satnami was not only beaten but also given electric shock in the police station. His left eye was damaged, testicles and both the knees were also damaged, there was blood in the ear and there were black spots on the right hand side of the chest.

The lady also told us that Bannu Satnami had applied for lone for a tubewell under the Indira Ganga Yojana but the sarpanch of the village, who is close to the BJP, has asked her to give him a 50 per cent share to him if the loan was granted. But Bannu was not ready to pay that amount. This is what led the sarpanch to hatch a plan against Bannu in connivance with the police. It is also said that the said sarpanch was already present in the police station when Bannu Satnami was called there and was also present there on the 6th when the dead body was seen. We were also told that previously also there were custodial deaths in Pipariya police station.

Later a CPI(M) delegation met the governor and gave him a memorandum, demanding (1) judicial inquiries into the death or Bannu Satnami, and also into the police lathicharge and firing; (2) immediate suspension of the responsible police and administrative officials; (3) Rs 10 lakh compensation and 5 acres of land to the wife of Bannu Satnami; and (4) steps for improving the law an order situation in the state.

As usual, after the incident, the state’s home minister gave the statement that it was a case of suicide as the victim had touched the transformer and was electrocuted. The CPI(M) has asked for the minister’s resignation.

In Chhattisgarh, lockup deaths are gradually becoming a regular feature under the BJP dispensation. Following are some more cases of death (read: murder) in police custody this year: (1) June 6: Rajendra Yadav, Arang, Raipur district; (2) August 13: Ram Kumar Dhruv, Suhala, Raipur district; (3) September 2: Sukhpal Lodhi, Shardepara, Durg district; (2) September 4: Chandra Prakash, Ogre, Jangier district; (5) October 14: Santoshi Sahu, Pallari, Raipur district.

There were cases of custodial death at Kanker and Bastar also. This is the picture of the BJP rule in Chhattisgarh and the common refrain among the people is that if somebody is called to a police station she/he must first get her/his life insured.