Protesters damage a car at Jagdeo Path in Patna on Wednesday. Picture by Jai Prakash

Patna, April 6: After a good night’s sleep, the Musahar community members hit the street early this morning with vengeance. Demanding Rs 5 lakh compensation and a job for the kin of Butti Devi, killed in the firing by henchmen of a construction company yesterday, they blocked Bailey Road at Jagdeo Path area for seven-and-a-half hours from 6am, pelted stones at vehicles and set tyres ablaze on the middle of the road.

The traffic came to a grinding halt on the busy Bailey Road right from the morning, leaving students and other commuters stranded. Alighting from bus, several students had to walk to their schools.

Police did poetic justice. They remained mute spectators when the henchmen of the construction company opened fire at the Musahar community members yesterday, killing Butti and injuring two others. Today, they watched the Musahar community’s vandalism. Even kids of the community paraded with bamboo in their hands, scaring commuters.

A couple of leaders visited the spot apparently to gain political mileage. But they lost the plot amid chaos — roars of tipsy Musahar community members.

The Musahar community members were on Bailey Road at 6am with the body of Butti. Besides Rs 5 lakh compensation for her family and a job to her kin, Rs 3 lakh compensation for the injured was on their wishlist.

For more than four hours, the mob damaged streetlights, ransacked traffic platforms and burnt vehicle tyres. The police, led by Patna City superintendent of police Shivdeep Lande chose not to react.

Amid all these, the JD (U) MLA from Masauri, Arun Manjhi, arrived. As Manjhi, also a Mahadalit, stood by the body of Butti, someone shouted: “Why have you come? What were you doing yesterday? We want Nitish Kumar here.”

In the meantime, a section of the mob screamed to chase away a milkman. With several Musahar community members in an inebriated state, courtesy the lone liquor shop open amid all the closed stores within the 4km radius of the spot, people, mostly commuters, ran for cover.

Manjhi then walked to the house of Butti and had a chat with her family members, including her husband, Nagmani, a tuberculosis patient, and three children.

Soon after the MLA left, Sudha Verghese, a social worker and a Padma awardee, said: “The politicians have started to come only now. Chief minister Nitish Kumar could have come down for 10 minutes at least.”

People in the mob said the administration had tried to fool Butti’s husband in the morning. “The administration’s representatives had offered him Rs 11,500 for performing the last rites of Butti. Nagmani signed the papers and he was given the money. But the other community members explained to him how he had been fooled. Realising his folly, Nagmani went to the district administration officials, returned them the money and tore the document he had signed,” a community member said.

The RJD’s state unit president, Ram Chandra Purbey, arrived around 11.15am. Slogans greeted him. He stopped near the body of Butti and said: “The Nitish Kumar government talks about uplifting the Mahadalits. But the reality is completely different. The government has sided with the builders,” he said.

All of a sudden, a section of the mob started sloganeering. Sniffing trouble, Purbey walked towards the police in haste. Within a few minutes, the mob started pelting stones. They stopped after Verghese intervened.

Around 12.30pm, Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Alok Kumar and district magistrate (DM) Sanjay Kumar Singh arrived.

“An FIR has been lodged at the Airport police station and more points will be included in it as per the demands of the people,” the SSP said and walked to he house of the deceased for talks with the DM.

While the compensation negotiations were on between the administration and the relatives of the deceased, a CPM flag was seen fluttering. “Our leader, Chunnu Singh, has decided to fight for them too,” said one of his supporters.

But before he could take the stage, the road blockade was lifted around 1.30pm.

“The administration has promised Rs 2 lakh compensation to the family of the deceased. At this moment, Rs 11,500 has been given to perform Butti’s last rites. The administration has promised to pay 75 per cent of the compensation by tomorrow. We are lifting the blockade based on their promise,” a Musahar community member said.