Two arrested for beating up Dalit youths in Muzaffarpur

Muzaffarpur, July 23

Two persons have been arrested after a group of people allegedly beat up two Dalit youths severely and urinated in the mouth of one of them on the charge of stealing a motorcycle in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, a senior police official said on Saturday.

Those arrested are: Suman Thakur and Munchun Thakur, an official of Paroo police station said. The two are among the 11 persons named in the FIR.

The incident occurred on Thursday night at Baburam village and an FIR was registered in Paroo police station of the district yesterday by the mother of one of the victims.

Rajiv Kumar Paswan's mother lodged the FIR against 11 persons, including the husband of the local panchayat head, alleging her son was beaten up and the other person was urinated in the mouth on the charge of stealing a motorcycle.

Police confirmed that the youths were thrashed but denied the allegation that they were urinated upon.

Senior Superintendent of Police Vivek Kumar said as per the supervision report submitted by Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Madan Kumar Anand, the allegation of beating up of the youths was true but the charge of urinating in the mouth was not corroborated during the inquiry.

SDPO along with an inspector visited the spot yesterday to probe the matter following registration of the FIR.

Another Dalit victim has been identified as Munna Paswan, a friend of Rajiv. Both are residents of Mathia village.

Mukesh Thakur, husband of the Panchayat head, named among 11 accused, denied the charge and alleged that it was a conspiracy against him. He said he was prepared for any high-level probe into the matter.

Meanwhile, the Muzaffarpur incident has provided an opportunity to the Opposition to attack the Nitish Kumar government.

Union minister and LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan visited the family of the two Dalit youths at Mathiya village of the district. Condemning the incident, he demanded a CBI inquiry into the severe beating of the two youths.

Hitting out at the Bihar chief minister, Paswan said Dalit atrocities have increased under his government.

In a statement, senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal went to meet the Dalits who were beaten at Una in Gujarat but did not think "fit enough" to visit Muzaffarpur to show such sympathy towards Dalits who were also beaten up and urinated upon.

Are they not interested in asking any question to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar about Dalit incident of Muzaffarpur, Modi asked.

Former Bihar Chief Minister and leader of Hindustani Awam Morcha, a BJP ally in NDA, Jitan Ram Manjhi also hit out Kumar over the incident.

"Instead of checking such atrocities against Dalits, Kumar is much more interested in searching what is happening in Gujarat," Manjhi said.

Jan Adhikar Party leader and MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav also condemned the incident and said that it reflected poor law and order situation in the state. — PTI