Jamshedpur, July 9: The People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) has alleged that district police and the Nagarik Suraksha Samiti were harassing innocent villagers by accusing them of being rebel sympathisers.
It has demanded that the atrocities on the villagers be stopped immediately.
The state PUCL unit said it possesses evidence, which suggests that the police and the NSS — social outfit floated by the police to counter extremists — were terrorising the villagers.
PUCL said the recent arrests of three villagers suspected to be rebels from Dhalbhumgarh market place on July 4 evening and their subsequent forwarding before the judicial custody on Friday evening was a case in point to prove the allegation.
On July 4, the Dhalbhumgarh police picked up three youths from the local haat (marketplace) accusing them of being sympathisers of People’s War.
Immediately after their arrest, the police official concerned flashed news across the sub-divisional area to have rounded up three suspected extremists from the Dhalbhumgarh bazaar. The three were identified as Rajen Munda, Mahendra Munda, both residents of Jiyan village in Ghurabandha, and Suresh Munda of Maheshpur of Ghurabandha village.
They were forwarded to judicial custody by Ghurabandha police station on charges of attacking an NSS member Meghrai Baske on April 27.
State PUCL president Subroto Bhattarjee said the arrest of the three villagers was a gameplan of the police and the NSS.
“It was brought to our notice that the three youths were arrested from Dhalbhumgarh on Sunday as Meghrai identified them as having rebel connections. After keeping these villagers in police custody, NSS members, on behalf of the local police, were bargaining with the family members to pay a hefty amount for their release,” Bhattacharjee said.The PUCL president said, as the poor villagers could not arrange for the huge amount, they were handed over to Ghurabandha police station on July 7 and remanded to judicial custody.
Bhattarjee said the PUCL has started a probe into the arrests of the villagers.
“We are receiving such reports of threats meted out to local villagers by the NSS activists and the police. The villagers who do not fall in line and refuse to take orders from the NSS are quickly branded rebels having connection with banned organisations like People's War,” he said.
“It is a pathetic situation for villagers living under the Dumaria and Ghurabandha police station. They suffer from both sides, the police and NSS combined and the People’s War,” Bhattacharjee said.
The human rights activists said they expect the state police authorities to intervene in the situation immediately, otherwise the PUCL would be compelled to take the matter to the National Human Rights Commission.
Dhalbhumgarh officer-in-charge Umesh Prasad Singh said the three suspects were forwarded to the Ghurabandha police station, but declined to comment on their arrest. The officer-in-charge also refused to comment on the villagers’ detention for three for four days in the Dhalbhumgarh police station.
