People's Democracy

JHARKHAND

Prafulla Linda

WHILE none of the sitting MPs of Jharkhand, including Congress� Khunti MP Shushila Kerketta, visited the place of police firing in Sirka village in Murhu block of Khunti district in Jharkhand, CPI(M)�s parliamentary group leader Basudev Acharya, from neighbouring state of West Bengal, left his election campaign and rushed to Khunti on March 23, 2009.

March 23 being Bhagat Singh�s martyrdom day, on reaching Khuni, Basudev Acharya first garlanded the statue of Bhagat Singh before reaching the spot in the jungle where the police resorted to firing.

In the police firing on March 19, one 12 year old adivasi school going child Amar Purti was killed on the spot and two other adivasi children were injured, one of them Gangu Purti is hospitalised in Ranchi Medical College and Hospital in serious condition.

Basudev Acharya went to the small house where Amar Purti lived, consoled his parents, enquired about the police firing related details. He also talked to the father of the seriously injured child Gangu Purti and other villagers to know the details. CPI(M)�s Jharkhand state secretary J S Majumdar, secretariat member Prafulla Linda, Ranchi-Khunti district secretary Sufal Mahto, local committee member of the area, Pradip Guria accompanied him.

On returning to Ranchi, Basudev Acharya met the Governor Saiyed Shibe Razi, reported about his observations and demanded compensation and job to the families of the victims, independent enquiry and punishment to concerned police officials.

On March 19 early morning, three jeep load of armed police reached near Amar Purti�s house, walked in the forest and without warning fired upon the school going adivasi children, who were collecting Mahua, a minor forest produce. On realising that the dead and injured children were not extremists, the police fled from the place without even caring to take the dead and injured to the hospital.

For eleven hours, the dead body of Amar was lying in the forest in the shed of tree branches constructed by Amar�s mother, Chirang Munda and protected by her. Injured Gangu Purti was taken to Khunti hospital by the villagers. After eleven hours, police came to the spot; just 20 kilometers away from the district headquarters Khunti having well connected roads, to take the dead body for postmortem.

This is the second police firing in Jharkhand killing three adivasis within three months, one at Kathikund in Dumka district during Shibu Soren�s regime and this one at Murhu in Khunti district during central rule of the Congress regime.