Villagers perform pujas during the anniversary of the firing. Picture by Mani Keshri

Banjhi (Sahebganj), April 19: Twenty-two years have passed since 15 tribals, including a former Member of Parliament Father Anthony Murmu, were killed in a police firing here.

But as villagers at this obscure village, 16 km from Sahebganj, once again lit candles and remembered the dead today, the 22nd anniversary of the Banjhi carnage, they regretted the fact that not one official has been penalised.

Worse, because of the report by the one-man judicial commission justifying the firing, none of the families received any compensation barring Rs 5,000 each as ex-gratia.

Many of the widows were forced to re-marry. Balaka Hembrom , widow of Modga Murmu, is one of them.

“I was forced to marry again in 1990 for the sake of my children; but I have not forgotten my first husband and every year I light a candle to remember him,” she said today.

The son of Anthony Murmu is today a BA (final) student at Sahebganj College and Murmu’s widow, Bibiyana, defends her marriage to one Bali Ram Yadav in 1990 because she had no option left.

An eyewitness, Baburam Murmu, recalled the simmering feud between tribals and influential moneylenders that culminated in the police firing.

Yes, a tribal mob had attacked the panchayat Bhavan, he recalled, but only because officials had held a tribal delegation captive there.

Tribals were falsely implicated in cases, ponds over which tribals enjoyed fishing rights, were settled with moneylenders, a few tribals were found killed under mysterious circumstances, he recalled, but officials took no action.

Not much has changed, they declared, after the creation of Jharkhand.

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha might be in the government now, they said, but the villagers at Banjhi are still awaiting justice.