Casteist feudal forces in Audihar village, Saidpur tehsil, Ghazipur district set fire to the hut of CPI(ML) activist Achhelal Banwasi in the Musahar Basti at around 2 o’clock at night on 15 September 2017. The intention was to kill Com Banwasi but when he escaped they fired on him, missing him only narrowly. The 3 pigs, 2 goats and hens inside the hut were charred to death. The police were phoned and when the thana in-charge reached with his force, bullet shells were found from the spot. This attack was done at the behest of mafia don Thakur Devraj Singh who is with the Samajwadi Party. Despite being exiled from the district his influence is such that the police did not even register a report, and instead put the blame on Banwasi saying that he himself had set fire to the hut. Party leaders Nand Kishore Bind and Saroj Yadav approached to the SDM, Saidpur after which a case was registered under the Dalit Atrocities Act. The accused were arrested and then released by the police. On 19 September, in the name of recording statements, the CO abused and ill-treated Achhelal, Domar and Kera Banwasi as if they were criminals. They were threatened with jail unless they took back the case.
It is to be noted that street tiles were put in the Musahar Basti which had been uprooted and were to be re-fixed by the Gram Panchayat. But the administration, under pressure from Devraj Singh, was not allowing this to be done. This land mafia wanted to usurp the home of freedom fighter Ramji Pandey; to prevent this tiles were put up in 2015 after protests organized by the CPI(ML) activists. Frustrated by this, the mafia goons had fired on AIARLA District President and popular Saidpur leader Com. Nand Kishore Bind, but he escaped. In that instance also the police protected Devraj and no case was registered.
A memorandum was submitted to the administration on 6 October demanding that the accused be sent to jail and a case under the Dalit Act be filed against the CO, Saidpur, after which the police sent two of the named accused to jail. When Party activists marched to the thana demanding the arrest of the remaining 4 accused, the police came out in huge force and said there is no permission for the march. Despite this a march was held in Audihar Bazaar and the SDM came to the venue and accepted the memorandum. A protest meeting was also held at Audihar.
