Vandalism and arson continued in Bihar’s Madhubani district for the second consecutive day on Saturday even as a flustered state government transferred top officials and ordered a judicial probe into alleged police inaction after a student’s murder and Friday’s firing on protesters that killed two youths.
Five police stations, a block office and a seed distribution centre were set afire and two railway stations were attacked in the northern district by thousands of violent protesters, prompting the police to open fire that left three protesters injured. Curfew was imposed in the whole district for a day. Police officials were shocked by the recurrence of public rage like on Friday, when protesters had set afire several government offices and torched about 50 vehicles. Two youths were killed in the firing and 12 others, including the SP and a DSP, were injured on Friday.
The Left parties and the RJD announced a statewide bandh against the alleged police inaction and firing on protesters to be held on Monday. LJP leaders burnt chief minister Nitish Kumar’s effigy in Patna and demanded President’s Rule in Bihar.
IGP (Darbhanga) R.K. Mishra, Madhubani DM Adesh Titermare, SP Saurabh Kumar and district project officer (education) Jagatpati Chaudhary were transferred and a judicial probe into the violent protests on Friday night. Refusal by the police to hand over the headless body of Prashant Kumar Jha, a 17-year-old schoolboy, recovered on October 2, to his family despite repeated requests and the failure to arrest the killers was behind Friday’s angry protests.
While Jha’s family identified the body as that of the boy whose missing report they had lodged on September 8, the police said it seemed to be of a 27-year-old man’s. The police finally handed over Jha’s body to his family on Saturday.