On 9th June, the martyrdom day of Birsa Munda, an innocent tribal youth Motilal Baske was murdered in a false police encounter in Tarai Dholkatta in Parasnath, Jharkhand. CPI (ML) demands a judicial investigation of this encounter and the prosecution of the guilty police officers. The Raghuvar Das government must immediately stop the persecution of innocent tribal youth by tagging them as Naxals. CPI (ML) has announced a protest day on June 15 against this encounter.
A CPI (ML) team lead by district secretary Com. Manoj Bhakt, went to the meet the family of Motilal in Madhuvan on June 12. A brief report by the team is presented below:
On 9 June, Motilal Baske left his home early morning, assuring his family that he would return early and would finish the rest task of firewood collection. But Motilal Baske never came back. Adivasis of the village complained that police forces were terrorizing villagers to shut themselves behind the doors and police force thrashed them too including a mentally ill girl Kaja. Parvati could learn only day after that her husband was shot dead in a so-called police encounter with naxals in Dholkatta area. She was led to Madhuvan Thana to see the dead body of her husband and forced to sign a white paper. She was not informed about the purpose of that signature.
On 10th June director general of police(DGP) D K Pandey rushed to Pirtand and hit newspapers’ headlines by public statements like ‘shoot at scull and get rewarded or one bullet for one naxali’. Shouldn’t there be a line of division between professional murderers and law keepers? He handed Giridih police superintendent a bounty of a lac rupees. Police conspired to portray Motilal Baske as an outlaw worth, but they failed to provide any evidence regarding any criminal history of Baske. The doubts that police have fired bullets on him when he was still alive and within safe custody of forces, do not seem baseless.
49 years old Motilal Baske native to Chiuanbeda in Pirtand block Giridih distric in Jharkhand was running a small eatery or dhaba since many years at Chandra Prabha tonk, 8 to 9 kilometers away from his village. His neighbour shopkeeper said, ‘there are many shops, up to forty perhaps, but now in off season only four or five are regular in business. Motilal’s small shop was one of them and doli, a type sedan, workers used to eat in his dhaba. He was also a registered member of sedan carriers’ union and his registration number is 2065. Dhaba was his main source of income. In the current year, he was granted economic help under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna and was engaged in building his new house. To avail this grant, a beneficiary has to get so many verifications and recommendations that it is impossible for a run-away to hide from police. His friends and family recall him as a social volunteer who had actively participated in recent program of the Governor at Madhuvan. Police’s story is turning out to be a blatant lie. Parvati Murmu, wife of Motilal Baske is determined to fight the culprit police.
Jharkhand police with other forces is killing naive adivasis and CM Raghubar Das is engaged in distributing medals. On 9 June 2017, on great revolutionary Birsa Munda’s 117th martyrdom day, Motilal Baske was being murdered in cold blood by Jharkhand police force and KOBRA forces, even as the chief minister Raghubar Das would have been forswearing in the capital in the name of Adivasis.
It is a hopeful sign that different organizations and adivasi organizations are actively resisting the fake encounter and raising their voice demanding that the guilty police officers be booked under IPC 302, charging them with intentional murder. CPI (ML) Giridih district committee has declared protest day on 15 June. CPI (ML) and Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Mahasabha demands that Motilal Baske’s family be paid at a minimum of Rs. 50 lakh as compensation and a permanent employment. Additionally, a judicial investigation of the encounter must also be set up.
