ustice for Victims of Forbesganj Police Firing Submitted by admin3 on 13 June 2011 - 12:07pm Indian Muslim By Committee for

Justice to Forbesganj Police Firing Victims, On 3rd of June 2011, while the politicians, sections of the civil society and med ia persons were busy entertaining the Satyagraha of Baba Ramdev against corruption and withdrawal of black money from foreign countries, 4 people were brutally ki lled in a police firing in Forbesganj of Bihar, which largely went unreported. T he incident came to light only three days later, when gruesome video and picture s of the firing were uploaded on the newsportal, TwoCircles.net (TCN). According to TCN, on 3rd June 2011, residents of Rampur and Bhajanpur villages under Forb esganj block in Araria district came out, after Juma Prayer, to protest against blockade of the connecting road between the two villages for a factory. The poli ce not only opened fire on the protesters but chased them and entered their home s, killing among others a woman and an infant point-blank. Four people including one woman and a six-month-old infant of the village of 90% Muslim population we re killed. Later, on 8th of June, a fact-finding team of ANHAD visited the area, which also confirmed the killings. The report by the team said, The police opened fire on the protesters and chased them to their homes. According to many eyewitnesses present on the scene the ord er to fire was given by the SP Garima Mallik. SDO, Ashok Agarwal, MLC, BJP and S aurabh Agarwal, Ashok Agarwals son and Managing Director of the Auro Sundram Inte rnational Company were present on the scene when firing was ordered. The fact fin ding team was informed by several villagers that on May 29, 2011 Sushil Modi, De puty CM and BJP, MLA had come to Forbesganj and had pressurized the administrati on to take immediate action regarding the village road and block it. Ashok Aggar wal was heard saying, inko pinjre main band kar denge. Jail banadenge salon ke ga on ko. Many eye witnesses told the team that apart from the police, Ashok Agarwal himself fired at people. But the government of Bihar is still in the mode of denial and not ready to puni sh the culprits. After much pressure from opposition and members of the Muslim c ommunity, the government though announced a probe into the firing on 7th of June but is yet to declare who will head the probe. One fears that these delay tacti cs by the government might lead to the hiding or destruction of crucial evidence s in the case by the culprits. Meanwhile, the government in a selective decision announced an ex-gratia amount of Rs. 3 lakh to the father of the 6-month baby b oy Sahil Ansari @ Naushad who died in the firing. The government has made it clear that the decision of compensation to the other deceased will be taken on the basis of the report of judicial probe which is not expected to be out before six months. One wonders how the government has decide d on this amount as even the proposed Communal and Targeted Violence Bill sugges ts a compensation amount of at-least Rs. 10 lakhs. In addition, on 11th June, th e Chief Minister has ordered the removal of Forbesganj sub-divisional police off icer R K Sharma for dereliction of duty before leaving for Delhi, en route to Chin a. The brutal violence and the casual approach of the government tell us how little things have changed in Bihar despite high promises to the contrary. The poor an d the marginalized are at the mercy of killers in uniform. We reiterate our demand: