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12 dalits killed in Bihar

Y Bala Murali Krishna in Patna

Twelve Dalits were gunned down last night by suspected Ranvir Sena activists at Narayanpur village in Jehanabad district of Bihar, the latest in the war of attrition between the Left and Right-wing extremist groups in the region, police said.

A Gaya report, quoting Superintendent of Police Amrit Lal Meena, said three injured have been admitted to the Anugrah Narayan medical college and hospital.

On January 25, 22 Dalits, including children and women, were killed by the Sena, a private army of landlords, at Shankarbigha village.

State Director General of Police K A Jacob said the district's borders have been sealed to arrest the assailants.

Chief Minister Rabri Devi and her husband and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav made a first-hand assessment of the situation in the village.

Rabri Devi said the state government has decided to give arms licences to dalits and other weaker sections of society in the extremist-dominated districts.

The chief minister said she had directed the authorities to screen the arms licences of residents in the extremism-affected districts to seize illegal arms and cancel the licences of people of ''doubtful character''.

She said the state government will take firm action to weed out extremist groups from central Bihar within a month. A concerted step would be taken to establish the rule of law in Jehanabad where the Ranvir Sena and other extremists strike at will killing innocent people belonging to the weaker sections, the chief minister added.

Consequent upon the complaint by villagers about the laxity of the officer in-charge of Sakurabad police station, she had directed state Home Secretary R K Singh and DGP Jacob to initiate action against the erring police personnel.

She said she had directed the state home commissioner and Jacob to form a special investigating team to probe the massacre and submit its report within 60 days. The state government will set up special courts to try cases of massacres on a day-to day basis.

Eleven people were killed on the spot. One succumbed to injuries on way to hospital.

The Sena, which was created to protect the interests of upper caste landlords, has gained notoriety for gunning down children, women and old people, unlike the Naxalites who always choose 'hard targets'.

With the private army often indulging in mindless massacres, particularly of Dalits and the poor whom it sees as supporters of the three major Naxalite groups in Bihar, attempts are underway to constitute a joint command of revolutionaries to combat the Sena.

Only a few days ago a four-member high-level central team, headed by the Union home ministry's special secretary, visited Shankar Bigha village and assessed the situation, and submitted its recommendations to the Centre

The state government has asked the Centre to deploy at least 30 more units of central paramilitary forces in the area. Twenty such units are already being engaged in combing operations.

As many as 18 districts in Bihar are affected by both Left and Right wing extremism.

While the Maoist Communist Centre is fully equipped to mount guerrilla warfare and is allegedly engaged in extortion and other operations, the People's War Group, which was earlier known as Party Unity, has been engaged in fratricidal war with the MCC for supremacy in the area.

The Liberation Group of Naxalites, on the other hand, has been launching mass movements at the grassroot level with the party considering Bihar as a ''fertile ground'' for class struggle.

Comprising mostly of ex-servicemen, the Ranvir Sena believes in liquidating supporters of the Naxalite groups and has indulged in ''merciless killings of Dalits.''

Ever since the Ranvir Sena was born, 19 massacres have taken place, claiming 281 lives, including the toll in last night's strike.

In Bombay, the Samata Party's Maharashtra unit urged President K R Narayanan to assess the law and order situation in Bihar in wake of the killings.

In a faxed message to Narayanan, Samata Party spokesman Tansukh Dhariwal said in spite of the party's demand to dismiss the Rabri Devi government in the wake of last month's massacre, the Bihar government was not dismissed.

Dhariwal demanded that a Cabinet meeting be held to recommend the dismissal of the Rabri Devi government and President's rule be imposed on the state.

He said the Samata Party will not remain a silent spectator and "shall do whatever is democratically and politically possible" to prevail upon the President to invoke Article 356 in Bihar.

The Samata Party will observe a protest day on Friday all over the country to demand the Bihar government's dismissal.

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