Bihar Govt to Conduct Speedy Trial of Accused who Forced Dalits to Lick Spit

Patna: After a torrent of criticism by the Opposition and social and human rights activists over two Dalit men who were abused and forced to lick their spit by a powerful man in Aurangabad, Bihar, the Nitish-Kumar government has decided to conduct a speedy trial to ensure stringent punishment to the accused.

In a viral video that surfaced on Sunday, the Dalits, Manjit Bhuiyan and Anil Kumar Bhuiyan, were publicly humiliated and punished by the accused, Balwant Singh of Singhna village, in Dumri panchayat, under Amba Police Station. Singh, who lost the panchayat polls on December 8, had punished the duo for not voting for him. Singh also allegedly threatened to punish other Dalits for not voting for him despite taking money, the police said.

Amba Police Station officer-in-charge Narendra Kumar Singh said that accused was arrested on Monday and produced in the local court, which sent him to jail. A first information report under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, was lodged on the basis of statement of Manjit Bhuiyan. “The police will submit a charge sheet in the court within two to three days. A speedy trial of the case will be conducted to ensure stringent punishment to Singh,” the police said.

Both victims belong to the oppressed and marginalised Musahar community, living on the outskirts of dominant caste villages of Bihar. Asharfi Sada, president, Musahar Vikas Manch, told Newsclick that most Musahars are landless Dalits derogatorily referred to as “rat eaters” by the upper castes and still considered untouchable. In Bihar, 96.3% of Musahars are landless and 92.5% work as farm labourers. Literacy in the community is 9.8%, the lowest among Dalits in the country with hardly 1% of Musahar women literate.

The Bihar Mahadalit Commission has asked the district administration to submit a detailed report about the incident.

A two-member team of the District Legal Services Authority will investigate the incident and gather information about the socioeconomic conditions of the victims. “After submission of the report, the District Legal Services Authority will initiate action to provide help and justice to the victims as per the law,” Rajkumar Paswan, one of the members of the probe team, told Newsclick.

This was the first reported case of public punishment during the 11 phases of the panchayat polls, which concluded on December 12. Several such cases in villages are hardly reported.

In a similar incident in April, a Dalit man was forced to lick his own spit during a panchayat meeting for eloping with a woman in Gaya district. After a video of the incident went viral on social media, the police arrested some of the accused.

According to the 2011 Census, Dalits constitute nearly 16% of Bihar’s 104 million population with 21 of the 22 Dalit subcastes Mahadalits—Musahar, Bhuiyan, Dom, Chamar, Dhobi and Nat. The Paswan caste was initially left out of the Mahadalit category but included later.