Emboldened by the growing assertion of feudal forces in Uttar Pradesh with the appointment of Yogi Adityanath as chief minister, incidents of feudal violence are on the rise in Jharkhand too. On 10 May, there was a small altercation happened between a Dalit boy (from the Paswan caste) and a Rajput boy over plucking mangoes in a mango orchard. This innocuous episode however led to serious consequences. At about 9 pm on the same day, fuedal forces filed a complaint of sexual harassment against some Dalit boys in the village. Subsequently, two Dalit boys were arrested by the police the next morning. The police then also went to the mango orchard to investigate the matter. Many boys of the village had gathered there, when in the presence of the police, some Rajput men beat up a Dalit boy. This was followed by an attack on a Rajput boy.
Soon afterwards, 150-200 Rajput men, in the presence of the police, launched an attack on a Dalit hamlet with around 25 dalit families. Children, women and elders were brutally beaten. A man was thrown down from a 2-story house, and sustained major injuries as a result. Doors and windows were broke, food and vessels were destroyed. The motorcycles and tractors in the hamlet were also destroyed. Dozens of people were injured. The sitting MP B.D. Ram, who happens to be a Dalit, has not yet visited the village and made enquires.
CPI(ML) has taken up this issue of feudal violence. On behalf of the Party, comrade Ramraj Paswan and Jharkhand state committee member Ravindra Bhuiya have mobilized the victims to protest and demand their rights. On 27 May, a protest demonstration was held at Chatarpur sub-divisional office. CPI(ML) MLA Rajkumar Yadav addressed this demonstration, and promised to raise this issue during the next session of the Jharkhand legislative assembly. A case against 30 persons has been filed under the SC/ST Atrocities Prevention Act, and the protestors demanded that the perpetrators of the violence be arrested immediately. Moreover, security should be provided to the Dalits of the region.
