Human Rights Watch today urged Bihar's Chief Minister Rabri Devi to take immediate steps to prevent a recurrence of the Ranvir Sena attack on lower caste villagers that took place in Jehanabad District, Bihar, on January 25. The Ranvir Sena is a private militia of upper caste landlords. At least twenty-one people were killed, many at point-blank range.
As the world focuses its attention on attacks on India's marginalized communities, including Christians and tribals in Orissa and Gujarat, attacks on members of scheduled castes (Dalits) in many parts of the country continue unabated.
In a letter released today, Human Rights Watch said the state government should:
Ensure that senior officials at the state and local levels publicize strong directives that civil servants and security officers found to be complicit in Ranvir Sena attacks, or found to take part in arbitrary raids, will be prosecuted;
Provide full security to villagers against further Ranvir Sena attacks and ensure that police pickets are placed away from upper caste areas to areas more accessible and secure for lower caste communities;
Appoint independent commissions to investigate and punish those responsible for attacks in affected districts, including any officials or members of the police who failed to respond to repeated calls for protection for villagers or to prosecute previous acts of violence;
Ensure that all districts affected by caste clashes (particularly Jehanabad, Patna, and Bhojpur) have at least one senior officer who is a member of a scheduled caste community. Investigate and prosecute those responsible for attacks on women during the massacres;
Appoint an independent judicial body to investigate the role of the police in conducting raids on villages in the aftermath of massacres, and in illegally destroying or seizing property. Prosecute and punish police responsible for such abuses. Compensate Dalits who have lost property during such raids.
The full text of the letter follows.
January 26, 1999
Chief Minister Rabri Devi
Patna, Bihar
India
Dear Chief Minister Rabri Devi,
We write to express our deep concern about the massacre on January 25 of at least twenty-one lower caste men, women and children in the village of Shankarbigha, Jehanabad district, Bihar. As you are aware, the massacre is the latest in a series of such attacks, the fifth of its kind since July 1996, in which lower caste men, women and children were killed by the Ranvir Sena for their suspected allegiance to the Communist Party of India/Marxist-Leninist [CPI(M-L)] or the Maoist Communist Centre, groups that have agitated for radical redistribution of land in the state. The latest attack clearly indicates that the state administration has failed to either curb the activities of this illegal army or to provide protection to the state's poorest lower caste sectors. Human Rights Watch urges the government to break the cycle of violence and state complicity by taking immediate steps to prevent further attacks in Bihar's central districts and to investigate and punish those responsible for the killings, including any officials or members of the police who failed to respond to repeated calls for protection for the villagers or to prosecute previous acts of violence.
According to press reports, members of the Ranvir Sena, a private militia of local upper caste landlords, entered eight thatched huts in the village on the night of January 25 and fired indiscriminately on the occupants. Many of the victims, including several children, were shot in the head and stomach at point-blank range. According to Jehanabad District Magistrate P. Amrit, the killers shouted Ranvir Sena slogans throughout the attacks. The village is only ten kilometers away from Laxmanpur-Bathe, the site of a December 1997 Ranvir Sena massacre that left at least sixty-one lower caste villagers dead. In that incident nearly 250 Ranvir Sena members raided the village in another overnight attack and shot, stabbed, and raped victims waking from their sleep.
Previous attacks have frequently followed rising tensions between landlords and agricultural laborers over agricultural wages, encroachment on land by upper caste farmers, or blockades imposed on village lands by CPI(M-L) members. Investigations conducted by Human Rights Watch and other human rights groups reveal a pattern of police and other official complicity in the violence. In several cases, villagers repeatedly appealed for protection to district officials weeks or even days before the attack took place. Police typically arrived on the scene over twelve hours after the incident. In one case, police officers stationed nearby forced open the villagers' houses and then stood by and watched as the massacre took place. Human Rights Watch has also found that police deployed in massacre-affected areas in the aftermath of killings have conducted raids on Dalit hamlets and have engaged in looting, destruction of property, arbitrary arrests, and attacks on women.
The government should make every effort to ensure that senior officials at the state and local levels issue unambiguous directives that are widely publicized that any civil servant or security officer found to be complicit in Ranvir Sena attacks, or found to take part in arbitrary raids, will be prosecuted. While we are aware that arrests have been carried out in connection with a number of these attacks, we are unaware that any of the sena leaders involved in the attacks have been arrested. If your government is going to stem the violence, it is essential that those organizing the attacks, as well as those carrying them out, be brought to justice and that the activities of this already-banned organization be curtailed.
Human Rights Watch recommends that the state government of Bihar provide full security to villagers against further Ranvir Sena attacks and ensure that police pickets are placed away from upper caste areas to areas more accessible and secure for lower caste communities. Independent commissions of inquiry should also be appointed to investigate and punish those responsible for attacks in affected districts, including any officials or members of the police who failed to respond to repeated calls for protection for villagers or to prosecute previous acts of violence. All districts affected by caste clashes (particularly Jehanabad, Patna, and Bhojpur) should have at least one senior officer who is a member of a scheduled caste community. A special effort should be also be made to investigate and prosecute those responsible for attacks on women during the massacres.
Finally, an independent judicial body should be appointed to investigate the role of the police in conducting raids on villages in the aftermath of massacres, and in illegally destroying or seizing property. Police responsible for such abuses should be prosecuted and punished accordingly. Dalits who have lost property during such raids should be compensated.
We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter and look forward to learning more about what your government has done to end the violence.
Sincerely,
Sidney R. Jones
Executive Director, Asia Division
cc.: Prime Minister A. B. Vajpayee
President K. R. Narayanan
