Villagers Fear Police Action After ‘Innocent’ Arrested, Flee Akauni in Bihar

Patna: Usha Devi, Mukhiya (elected village body head) of Dihuri panchayat is helpless following the police  action against the purportedly innocent people of Akauni village. Local administration and the police are not listening to her, she said. Despite knowing that the police have ruthlessly acted against innocent villagers including minor children, pregnant women and old men, Usha Devi says, she can not do much to help them.

Four days after 44 people including 14 women of Akauni village, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Goh police station in Aurangabad district, were arrested and  sent to jail, fear and terror of police action during the lockdown is such that most of the villagers have fled the Akauni village after locking their houses. The elderly have been left behind to take care of the livestock (cows and buffaloes). These people were arrested on charges of allegedly attacking  and injuring the police and a medical team last week after a case of mistaken identity. Authorities attempted to screen a suspected COVID-19 patient forcibly and the police’s highhandedness attracted the ire of the villagers, who reportedly attacked them.

Upset and disappointed over the series of developments, Usha Devi has decided not to contest next panchayat polls. “What is the use of an elected mukhiya when I cannot be allowed to challenge the police action against innocent villagers?” she asked.

Usha, who is a rare example of a woman mukhiya, told NewsClick, “I knew that several of those arrested and sent to the jail are innocent. They have nothing to do with the violent incident against the police and the medical team. But neither the DM nor the SP, BDO and the police station in-charge listen to me. I have requested the DM and local police to take a close look at the video recording of the violent incident and identify the real accused.” She added that the police action against women was also wrong and that most of them were innocent.

Usha Devi, who belongs to the powerful landed upper caste Bhumihar, said her stand has nothing to do with any party politics and she is not a member of the ruling or the opposition parties. “I have been working beyond the narrow caste interest as I enjoy overwhelming support  from all,” she claimed.

Alleging that that local police and administration listen to the local BJP leader (Sunil Sharma, BJP’s Goh block president) and JD-U leaders, Usha Devi said, “I, as a mukhiya, have no say in the local affairs because the police and administration ignore my words and go by what local BJP and JD-U  leaders say, as PM Narendra Modi belongs to BJP and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar belongs to JD-U. A local BJP leader has repeatedly threatened me and told me that a pass issued to me by the district administration is only a showpiece and not a permission to visit villages of my panchayat during the lockdown. The local administration also did not help me to visit villages.”

Usha alleged further that when she has informed the DM about this issue, instead of assuring her, the DM asked her why she has not resigned from the post after such a violent incident in her panchayat.

According to her, there is fear among villagers that the police will take action against innocent people. “This has forced many to lock their houses and leave the village. Most of the houses are empty and locked.”

A district police official said that last week, three separate FIRs were lodged against 101 named villagers as accused in connection with the attack on policemen and medical team in the Akauni village. The accused include 11 minors and 19 women.

“Fourteen women including pregnant and eight minor children were arrested. Women have been sent to Daudnagar sub divisional jail and minors sent to a  remand home in the neighbouring Gaya district,” he said.

The local police claim that their team, along with a medical team, was attacked when they reached the village to screen Radhey Yadav, who had returned from Delhi a few days ago. The villagers objected and protested when the teams reached the house of another youth with the same name and insisted on taking him for screening. They reportedly ignored the villagers despite their repeated requests that the real Radhey Yadav, son of Ramji Yadav, was someone else, not the youth they had been trying to screen for the novel coronavirus and take to a quarantine centre.

However, the police used force to try and screen the wrong man and allegedly abused and misbehaved with members of his family, including women. The incident took a violent turn when the family members, along with some villagers, started pelting stones at the police and the medical team.

“It was a case of mistaken identity as there are three villagers with the same name but Radhey Yadav, who had arrived from Delhi, was one who should have gone for the medical check-up. It was wrong on their part, however, to have attacked the police and a medical team,” added Usha.

A villager told NewsClick that the police acted brutally against the innocent villagers including an 80-year-old man, minors and women. “The police have badly beaten the women, hit on their private parts after forcibly barging into their houses,” they alleged.

Usha Devi has demanded that the National Commission for Women and other concerned human rights agencies take cognisance of the police action against innocent villagers including pregnant women and minors.

Ironically, the NDA government led by Nitish Kumar has never missed a chance to brag that Bihar was the first state that has given 50% reservation to women in panchayat elections and bolstered women empowerment in the last 15 years.