Category: Vaishali

Bihar assembly sees uproar as 5 lynched in 4 days

Source: dnaindia.com

Five people were killed in a spate of mob lynchings in four days in Bihar. Recently, there has been a rise in cases of mob violence in the state, raising questions about law and order. The latest incidents were reported from Chhapra and Vaishali districts.

The first incident took place on Thursday, July 18 in Chhapra when enraged villagers beat three thieves to death. Apparently, all three were known for stealing cattle from the villagers. The father of one of the victims has demanded rigorous punishment for the accused. The police have taken cognisance of the matter and taken eight people in custody.

Subsequently, three incidents took place on Friday, July 19, in Vaishali and Bhojpur. In two separate incidents in Vaishali, villagers brutally thrashed a robber while he was trying to flee after looting a bank.

Another incident happened on Sunday, July 21, when a mob of angry villagers attacked and killed a youth. According to the villagers, the young man was punished for murdering a girl. The situation in all these villages remained tense as on Monday.

Meanwhile, the opposition attacked the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) government over the “deteriorating” law and order in the state. Leaders belonging to RJD demanded an answer from the government, while BJP legislator Jeevesh Mishra said, “The people of Bihar are taking law in their hands out of frustration. However, this is not right. They should hand over the accused to the police.” He also said that the state will have to take necessary steps.

Two held at Pune International Airport for bid to smuggle Saudi Riyals to Dubai

Source: indianexpress.com

Customs officials arrested two passengers at Pune International Airport for the alleged possession of Saudi Riyals, valued at Rs 35.41 lakh, which they were allegedly attempting to smuggle to Dubai.

The customs department identified the two suspects as Balaji Mustapure and Mayure Bhaskar Patil. A press release issued by Vaishali Patange, joint commissioner of customs, Pune International Airport, said Mustapure and Patil were caught as they were trying to smuggle out foreign currency on a SpiceJet flight on July 16.

“A search of the two passengers and their baggage resulted in the recovery of foreign currency worth Rs 35.41 lakh. During an inquiry, the passengers said the currency did not belong to them,” the press release stated.

The press release further stated that the two passengers got the foreign currency for handing over in Dubai. “The foreign currency, which was Saudi Arabian Riyals, was seized on the belief that it was being attempted to be smuggled out of India and had become liable for confiscation under provisions of the Customs Act, 1962, and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA),” stated the release.

The team that caught the passengers led by Usha Bhoyar, Deputy Commissioner of Pune Customs, Superintendents Vinita Pusdekar and Sanjay Zarekar.

In February, customs officials had arrested two passengers with the alleged possession of foreign currencies of denominations 41,422 in US dollars and 200 in AED, valued at Rs 28 lakh.

Customs officials had identified the two suspects as Mohan Patil and Sachin Patil, residents of Sangli district, who were scheduled to board an Air India flight to Dubai.

10-year-old boy, man commit suicide in separate incidents

Source: millenniumpost.in

Noida/Ghaziabad: In two separate incidents of suicide, a 10-year-old boy allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself with the ceiling fan at his house in nithari area of Noida while in another a 30-year-old makeup man with a private news channel hanged himself to death inside his house in Vaishali area of Ghaziabad on Wednesday. In first incident reported from Noida, 10-year-old Sumer Das, native of Murshidabad district in West Bengal lived at a rented house along his family in Nithari area.

Cops said that his father is a e-rickshaw driver while his mother works as a house help at nearby residential sectors. “The incident came to light around 11 am on Wednesday when the boy was alone at home.” “When the mother came back home from work, she spotted the child hanging with the ceiling fan and rushed him to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him brought dead,” said Rajbir Singh Chauhan, Station House Officer at Sector 20 police station of Noida.

“The parents told police that the boy had urged his father to take him along on his daily ride on Wednesday morning but he denied as it was raining. Somehow, the boy got mentally depressed due to this and he took the extreme step to end his life,” added Chauhan.

In another incident, 30-year-old Nitesh Kashyap allegedly committed suicide by hanging from a ceiling fan at his residence in sector -5 Vaishali area of Ghaziabad.

Police have received a suicide note from the spot. Cops said that the suicide note revealed that the deceased had a dispute with his wife and family.

He also said that he loves his wife and family very much but taking the step under mental stress.

“We have not registered any case into the matter as no complaint has been received. Police recovered a suicide note in which the deceased said that no one should be held responsible for his death,” said Sandeep Kumar Singh, SHO of Indirapuram policestation.

In a first in Bihar, FIR lodged against 66 cops including 3 DSPs in Vaishali district

Source: newindianexpress.com

PATNA: In a first such belated but bold move in Bihar, an FIR was lodged against 66 police officials including three deputy superintendents of police (DSPs) and 50 police inspectors on Monday evening in Hajipur town police station of Vaishali district.

According to police sources, Vaishali SP MS Dhillon passed an order to the SHO of Town PS to lodge the FIR against those cops when they didn’t hand over cases even after years of being transferred from the district.

All the accused cops have been transferred from this district to other places long ago with one of the three DSPs is now on deputation in the CBI. The DSPs who have been named as accused in the FIR are Nagendra Prasad, now on deputation in CBI, Pankaj Rawat, who is currently Sadar SDPO in Bettiah and Ashok Prasad at Patna.

To begin with, notices were served to them asking to hand over the charges of many criminal cases, which were being investigated by them at that time of their transfers. The FIR has been lodged under section 634 and 409 of IPC against all those 66 cops together on the charges of not handing over the cases to other cops even after years of being transferred.

Son avoided bus journeys, had an unconfirmed train ticket: Father of Agra bus accident victim

Source: hindustantimes.com

Among the 29 people killed in Monday’s bus accident on the Yamuna Expressway near Agra, were 29-year-old electrical engineer Hazoor Alam from Azadpur and Rajendra Singh from Uttam Nagar.

A two-tiered sleeper AC bus, on its way from Lucknow to Delhi, skidded off the Yamuna Expressway and plunged about 20 feet into a drain. The accident took place around 4.30am in Etmadpur, about 200km from Delhi, when the Uttar Pradesh Roadways bus broke through the safety railing at a high speed and fell into the Jharna Nala, which had about six to eight feet of water,police said.

Alam’s family members said he rarely took a bus, and one of his few bus rides turned into his life’s last journey.

A resident of Lal Bagh in northwest Delhi’s Azadpur, Alam was returning home after dropping his wife at her parental home in Lucknow. Alam was supposed to take a train to Delhi, but he could not get a confirmed train ticket, even in Tatkal category. Also, he had to resume his office duty on Monday, Alam’s family members said.

“My son usually preferred train journeys. The office of the solar equipment manufacturing company he worked with was in Green Park, which is almost 30km from our home. Alam always travelled by Metro. He even avoided DTC buses or using a bike,” Alam’s father Mansoor Ali said.

Alam’s family members now regret allowing him to travel to his in-laws’ house in Lucknow to drop his wife, Shagufta.

“I had told Alam to send his wife with my younger son, Saddam Hussain, or ask someone from his in-laws’ family to accompany her to Lucknow. But this time he was reluctant on sending his wife with someone else. Today, I regret not compelling him to not travel without a confirmed return train ticket,” Ali said.

Alam had last spoken to his brother, Fahimuddin, around 10pm Sunday and had asked him to bring his clothes to their brother-in-law’s home in Vaishali near Ghaziabad as he had planned to change there and leave directly to office. His AC bus journey was supposed to culminate at Anand Vihar ISBT, the brother said.

According to Fahimuddin, nobody in his family was aware of his brother’s death until he called on Alam’s phone to see if he had reached Delhi. Fahimuddin found the phone switched off.

“My brother had asked me to reach Vaishali before 8am. But I woke up late and called him to inform him that I will be late. But his phone was switched off. I then contacted our brother-in-law who told me that my brother had not reached there,” Fahimuddin said.

Fahimuddin said his parents got worried when a relative told them about the bus accident in Agra. They sent their two sons and a relative to the accident spot in Agra and the hospitals where the injured and dead passengers were taken.

Alam’s brothers and relative reached the hospital in Agra and heard a staff member reading out his name from the list of dead passengers. The eldest of five siblings, Alam was also the main earning member of his family. He had completed his electrical engineering from a polytechnic in northwest Delhi in 2014. He and Shagufta had married in November 2017.

Inter-state gang of gold robbers busted in Bihar, firearms, hemp recovered

Source: newindianexpress.com

PATNA: Bihar police Sunday busted an interstate gang of gold-robbers wanted for several heists in Delhi, West Bengal, Bihar, Gujarat and several other states.

After a month of electronic survillance, the police arrested two of the gang members from Vaishali district with a stock of illegal firearms and bundles of hemp worth Rs 3 lakh.

According to Superintendent of Police (SP), Vaishali, M S Dhillon said, “Mohhamad Mehraz, 45, the kingpin of interstate active gang of professional gold robbers, and one of his accomplices identified as Indrajeet Kumar were arrested from their hideout near Jaduha in Hajipur Town. They had come to Bihar to organise other gang members and conduct gold heists. The had also planned a loot Muthoot Gold Finance company in Surat where they were staying temporarily.”

The most shocking fact that came to the fore during initial interrogation was that Mohhamed Mehraz has no permanent address and has been carrying a fake Adhaar card for a while.

The police said that Meharaz was involved in many gold heists in Delhi, West Bengal and in several other states. He along with his some accomplices had sold gold jewellery worth Rs 20 lakh in Kolkata after looting gold at a jewellery shop in hajipur.

Dhillon said the modus operandi of the jewellery heists was to reach SUV was being used to reach the shops masqueranding as bonafide customers.

“Each of the members of this busted inter state gang of gold robbers has been commiting crimes suitably dressed like an affluent customer. After seeing gold, diamond and silver made jewellery , they suddenly used to take the staff and the owner of shops captive at gun points”, said the police.

Free tutorials by govt teachers for poor kids, Bihar village shows the way

Source: hindustantimes.com

A routine visit by a government official to a poor village inhabited by Mahadalits in Vaishali district a year ago to promote toilets has brought about a silent revolution there, with children being given free tutorials by government school teachers and their parents shunning liquor to secure future of their children.

The village, Sonodih village under Goraul block in Vaishali district, is inhabited by Musahars and Paswans, who are mostly daily wage labourers, hardly having any land for cultivation.

“A year ago, on direction by the block development officer (BDO) Premraj, when I visited ward number 4 of Sonodih village to conduct a survey of open defecation, people of the locality started complaining that they were not given money to build toilets. I assured them that toilets would be built,” said block education officer (BEO), Goraul, Sushil Kumar.

“Apart from building toilets, we also decided to open an evening tutorial centre, which was set up a few months back,” he said.

“Most of the residents have now built toilets and no more defecate in the open. Besides Rs 12,000 provided by the government, they also added their own money to construct good toilets,” said the BDO.

For the tutorial classes, teachers working in nearby government schools volunteered. “Shankar Paswan, former ward member, chipped in by giving a portion of his house to set up the evening tutorial classes. Initially, the students sat on bare floor. However, later, some people donated a cotton rug for the children to sit,” said Dharmendra Kumar, who is a block resource person and also a teacher at middle school, Goraul. Kumar also takes classes at the centre.

“The students, who earlier used to loiter around, have developed the habit of studying in the evening after school hours. Their parents have stopped taking toddy or liquor. We hold regular parents’ meeting. We advise them to use toilets, besides keeping the children clean to keep away the diseases.” he said.

A government official, wishing not be named, said earlier people used to booze during the evening hours, but the evening tutorial classes had changed the environment and now those who drink do so secretly by remaining confined to their houses. Liquor has been banned in Bihar since April 5, 2016.

Geeta Paswan of Pratham Education Foundation, which assists in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme, said, “First, we asked the villagers to remain clean. Then we advised that building toilet was important, then we asked them to send their children to the evening tutorial centre. Through this process gradually change started happening in the community.”

The BDO said there were about 60 tolas in Goraul block and when people shy away from taking initiative for any work example of Sonodih village is cited, where Swacchta Abhiyan had become a model.

Bihar mother-daughter tonsuring case: Arrest warrent issued for 5 accused

Source: hindustantimes.com

A local court in Vaishali issued an arrest warrant against five people for assaulting and tonsuring a 48-year-old woman and her 19-year-old daughter in Bihari village on June 26. The women were assaulted and ‘punished’ by a local councillor, after they protested against his attempt to rape the daughter. A video of the incident had become viral on social media and the police had arrested the councillor and four others for their alleged involvement.

Dr Rajulben L Desai, member of the National Commission for Women (NCW) , who visited the victims, asked the Bihar government to provide adequate compensation and free legal aid to help the women get justice. Rachna Raj, secretary of the district legal service authority (DLSA), also met the victims and provided them with a legal advisor.

Vaishali SP MS Dhillon said that a plea for the arrest of five accused, identified as Md Manjur Ansari, Md Kalim, Md Ishtewar, Md Javed and Md Padua, was submitted in the court of additional chief judicial magistrate Alok Kumar Mishra on Saturday, following which the court issued an arrest warrant against them, after a hearing on Tuesday.

Read | 2 women assaulted, tonsured for resisting rape bid by councillor in Bihar

Two of the accused,ward councillor Mohammad Khurshid and barber Dasrath Thakur, were arrested immediately after the incident and are already in judicial custody.

“The court has issued an arrest warrant against the five named accused. Now, we will go ahead with the due procedure,” said Sanjay Kumar, SHO of Bhagwanpur police station. He said that a case has been registered against seven people under section 376 (punishment for rape), 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences), 354b (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC.

The police informed that the victims recorded their statements before the court of second class judicial magistrate, Vandana, under sections of 167 CrPC. In her statement, the middle-aged woman revealed that all the accused forcibly entered their house and tried to rape her daughter. When she protested, the accused persons abused and beat up the victims. The women approached some of their fellow villagers, who took them to the police station.

The Bihar state women’s commission has also sought strong action against the accused. Dilmani Mishra, the commission’s chairman, said that the incident was highly condemnable.

“I have talked to eyewitnesses, the police and visited the spot where the incident occurred. I will send a report to the NCW,” said Desai.

People vs Govt: The Bihar Residents Arrested for Demanding Water

Source: thecitizen.in

NEW DELHI: Today we kick off a series of stories revolving around the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India. Through field reports, interviews, photo essays, histories and analysis, we discover these rights of strength and their shortcomings.

On June 25 police lodged an FIR against 39 people in Harivanshpur village in Bihar’s Vaishali district for carrying out the protests over the lack of water supply and the deaths of several of their children from the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome.

Residents of the village have been booked under IPC Sections 147, 148 and 149 (rioting and unlawful assembly), 188 (disobedience of orders), 283 (obstruction of public ways), 353 (assault) and 504 (breach of peace).

Even the parents of encephalitis victims have been charged with these crimes.

It was following the deaths of seven children from AES over two weeks that the residents of Harivanshpur staged a protest on June 23 and again two days later.

They also staged a protest demanding water tankers for their village, reports say, as there is an acute shortage of drinking water in the area and all the hand pumps have dried up.

The farmers and livestock of Vaishali district are the worst affected. There is no irrigation water available in the region, and with no groundwater left to tap, standing crops in the farms are drying up according to several reports.

Article 19(1)(b) of the Constitution of India guarantees the right “to assemble peaceably and without arms”. Freedom of peaceful assembly resembles the idea of a democratic government.

It is also reported that the residents of Harivanshpur have announced a missing person award of Rs.15,000 for Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan.

Speaking to The Citizen, Amresh Kumar the area’s Block Development Officer said, “On June 23 the villagers staged a protest when the Hajipur MP Pashupati Kumar Paras and Lalganj MLA Rajkumar Sah came to the area and tried to hold them hostage. Following the incident, orders were given to the local officers to keep vigil and report any form of nuisance in the area.”

Ashok Kumar Singh, the Block Panchayati Raj Officer told The Citizen that “villagers blocked the highway for four hours and created nuisance. Most men have fled the village fearing rule of law after an FIR was filed against them.”

According to The Hindu “most of the children who died in Harivanshpur belong to the extremely backward Mallah community and the Dalit Musahar community.” One among them, Ganesh Manjhi, lost two sons within 24 hours due to suspected AES. They were 7 and 2 years old.

Man lynched near Patna’s Vaishali village on theft suspicion, no arrest yet

Source: hindustantimes.com

A 35-year-old unidentified man, suspected of a theft at Akhtiarpur Patedha village falling under Sarai police station of Vaishali district, was beaten to death by a mob in the wee hours of Tuesday.

Sources said the police arrived on the spot around 3 am after a tip-off that six dacoits had barged into the house of one Sant Lal Paswan and injured him along with his wife.

The police found the victim with multiple bruises lying lifeless on the outskirts of the village.

He was taken to the Sadar hospital where doctors declared him dead. The body has been sent for autopsy.

“Two separate cases have been lodged with the Sarai police station. One of the FIRs has been lodged in connection with the murder of suspect on the basis of the statement of the SHO against unidentified persons while second is on the basis of Paswan’s statement against dacoits,” said Vaishali SP Manavjit Singh Dhillon.

In Vaishali, there have been several incidents of theft, burglary and dacoity.

According to villagers, the Paswan family raised an alarm after which people gathered, chased the dacoits and caught one of the man. The villagers beat the man using bamboos and sticks. The police are trying to identify the man and the locals involved in the incident.

SHO of the Sarai police station Dharmjit Mahto said police recovered cutters and a mobile from his possession.