Bihar panel says minorities labelled as Bangladeshis, beaten up; asks police to take steps

Patna, Jan 7 (PTI) The Minority Commission of Bihar has flagged rising incidents in which a section of the Muslim people are beaten up by mobs after labelling them as "Bangladeshis", and asked the police to stop such happenings.

The letter from the Minority Commission Chairman Gulam Rasool Balyawi came less than two months after the NDA returned to power in the state.

In a letter to the state police chief, Balyawi contended that such incidents have left minorities "terrorised" and demanded "a complete check" through implementation of measures "suggested by the Supreme Court".

Balyawi is also a leader of the JD(U), the party headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

In his two-page letter, Balyawi cited three instances from different districts involving members of the minority community being beaten up by mobs that called them Bangladeshis.

In one of the incidents cited by Balyawi, victim Atar Hussain succumbed to injuries in Laheri area of Nalanda, the home district of the chief minister.

"These reprehensible incidents have a detrimental effect on communal and social harmony...... Minorities and other depressed classes are living in an atmosphere of terror and insecurity. The erosion of their trust in law and order machinery is unfortunate for the government,” said the letter.

The Supreme Court took cognisance of the issues of mob violence and gave detailed directions in its July 17, 2018, judgment to take preventive, remedial and punitive measures to curb the incidents of mob lynching in the country, it said.

"The directions of the SC were forwarded to the State Governments/UT Administrations for implementation in letter and spirit through an advisory in July, 2018," the panel chairman wrote in the letter.

According to the apex court's directive, state governments must designate a senior police officer, not below the rank of Superintendent of Police, as the nodal officer in each district, the letter said.

Such nodal officers shall be assisted by one of the DSP rank officers for taking measures to prevent incidents of mob violence and lynching, Balyawi said, and asked the government to designate the officers in all districts with immediate effect.

Incidentally, Balyawi has been an outspoken leader who defied the party line on a number of issues, including the Waqf Bill, which was passed in Parliament with the JD(U)'s support.

The Home portfolio of Bihar, which Chief Minister Nitish Kumar kept with himself all through his nearly 20-year-long tenure, has been given to his deputy, BJP leader Samrat Chowdhury, this time. PTI NAC PKD NN