On Wednesday, May 19, a Dalit settlement in Majhuwa village under Baisi police station of Purnia district in Bihar was attacked by a bloodthirsty Islamist mob. The attack, which happened after 11:30 pm on Wednesday, has claimed the life of one aged man – Mewa Lal Rai (70) while injuring over 25 others. The Islamist mob was ruthless in its attack on the Dalit settlement and spared nobody. Women, children, elder people were all viciously attacked by the frenzied mob which has been seeking the removal of the Dalit families from the largely Muslim-dominated area.
The extremist mob perpetrated terror on the Dalit families, as 150 Islamists pounced on an unsuspecting Dalit settlement in the darkness of the night. According to eyewitnesses and victims, each member of the Islamist mob had a gallon of petrol/kerosene in their hands. The mob poured petrol on the houses and started burning them. In the meantime, when people left their houses and started running away, the mob dragged them away and started beating them. The accused also carried swords, sticks, petrol, and bike chains.
The fire engines reached the spot only three hours later to douse the flames, which had reduced the Dalit households to ash. The police, meanwhile, reached only half an hour before the fire engines. In the intervening period which the Islamists got for running a free riot, they are also said to have kidnapped a three-year-old boy. Serving a notice to Purnia’s Superintendent of Police (SP), the National Commission for Protection of Children’s Rights (NCPCR) has claimed that a three-year-old boy has been kidnapped or is missing while atrocities were reportedly being committed on various children of the Dalit community.
The primary reason behind the Islamist violence on the Dalit families is said to be the Muslims’ grave grudge and sense of dislike for the Dalits. The Muslims from the settlement’s adjoining areas are said to have been asking the Dalits to vacate the land claiming it belongs to them. However, according to the Dalits, the land on which their houses are made is government land, belonging to the Public Works Department (PWD).
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has strongly condemned the attack on Dalit families by the Islamist mob and has also accused the local administration of inaction. VHP’s Union General Secretary Milind Parande also said that Muslims are carrying out such atrocities with the tacit support of the local administration.
The Nitish Kumar-led NDA government of Bihar, meanwhile, has decided to maintain a silence on the persecution of Dalits by radical Muslims. Mainstream and liberal media too are not outraging and ensuring that justice is delivered to the victims. However, needless to say, had the victims been Muslims and the perpetrators Dalits, Indian and foreign media, apart from liberals had risen in arms against the riot-mentality which they would claim has come to engulf India. Yet, efforts seem to be progressing on a war footing to push news of the Islamist mob attacking Dalits under the rug.
