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Jharkhand: Mason Cries Foul After Being Declared 바카라˜Absconding Maoist바카라™

Witch-hunt allegations mount as police struggle to meet targets to seize the properties of absconding Naxal commanders in the insurgency-hit state.

Sanjay Majhi (left) and his son Sunil Kumar (right)
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Sanjay Majhi, 50, doesn바카라™t have a concrete house for the family comprising his wife and their two daughters and a son. It hardly matters that the tribal man is a mason for the last 25 years. All that he owns is a mud hut with a clay roof (Khaprail), a small patch of agricultural land, two cows and a pair of oxen besides some farming implements. Last year, a dwelling unit was allotted to the family under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, which is yet to be completed.

Of late, the local police informed him that he is an 바카라œabsconding Naxalite바카라 바카라” who allegedly blew up a railway track in the Mahuatand area in October 2014. The police reportedly told him that there was a warrant of 바카라œKurki-Jabti바카라 (property attachment) against him as he has been charged under section 17 of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1908.

This couldn바카라™t have happened at a worse time as he was leaving no stone unturned making arrangements for the marriage of his eldest daughter, Sunita Kumari, scheduled to be held in March.

Prior to this, Majhi 바카라” a resident of village Lalgarh in Gomia block of Bokaro district 바카라” had never received any legal notice over his alleged Maoist links, he has claimed. Ironically, Majhi is an undertrial in a coal theft case of 2013. Currently out on bail, he has to appear in the Tenughat court almost every month, according to him.

The targets

Reportedly, all the district police chiefs of Jharkhand have been instructed and given targets to seize moveable and immovable properties of the absconding Naxal commanders. AV Homkar, a spokesperson of the Jharkhand Police and IG Operation, had said on December 9, 2021, 바카라œA special cell has been set up at the headquarters level to monitor the whole process. An officer of the Deputy Inspector General rank is monitoring it.바카라

Consequently, the witch-hunt allegations against the police have started mounting as the latter struggle to meet their assigned targets.

Since the eruption of the Maoist insurgency in Jharkhand, the central paramilitary forces and the state police have frequently been accused of stage-managed surrenders and encounters. In September 2016, National Human Rights Commission chairperson, Justice HL Dattu, had made a sensational disclosure in this regard.

A probe conducted by the commission had found that 514 innocent tribal youths were made to surrender as 바카라œNaxalites바카라 between 2012 and 2014 under the state바카라™s controversial policy that promised government jobs and cash rewards.

The commission had sent a report to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the state government, affirming that some senior officers from the Central Reserve Police Force and Jharkhand police organised the 바카라œfake surrenders바카라 for monetary and other service-related benefits.

The fake surrender scam dates back to 2011. A PIL in this regard was filed in the Jharkhand High Court by Shashi Bhushan Pathak, who worked with Jharkhand Council for Democratic Rights (JCDR), following the Commission's findings. The petition sought action against the accused officers and justice for the men wrongly branded as 바카라œsurrendered Maoists바카라. While the petitioner passed away in 2017, a member of the JCDR바카라™s executive body told Outlook that he was unaware of the current status of the petition.

On January 1, 2022, the Outlook had reported the story of Birsa Majhi, 43, another tribal man who too has been facing a trial in Jharkhand바카라™s Tenughat court in a 30-year-old case related to the Prevention of Witch (Daain) Practices Act. Last month, Majhi was also summoned to the local police station and informed that he is a 바카라œwanted Naxal with a bounty of Rs 1 lakh바카라, who remains a 바카라œperceived absconder바카라 since 2008.

Both Sanjay Majhi and Birsa Majhi were summoned by Kanahiya Ram, SHO Jageshwar Vihar police station, on two separate occasions in December 2021. Attempts to contact Superintendent of Police (SP) Chandan Kumar Jha over the phone and through text messages didn바카라™t elicit any response till the time this report was published.

Reverse onus  

Seeking protection from the impending arrest and confiscation of his property, meanwhile, Sanjay Majhi has written a letter to Chandan Kumar Jha, the SP. 바카라œOn December 27, SHO Jageshwar Vihar police station summoned me to the police station and informed me that there was a warrant of property attachment against me. He said there is a case registered against me for blowing up a railway track in 2014. It was for the first time that I came to know about it,바카라 the letter dated January 19, 2020, stated.

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Letter to the SP

Further, the letter bearing his thumb impression explained, 바카라œI live in my village and work as a mason in the surrounding areas. Neither I am linked to any Maoist organisation nor related to the incident in which the railway track was blown up. Nor I have been an absconder in my life. I have never received any kind of notice in this regard.바카라

바카라œI am sure that my name has been attached with this case due to some mistake,바카라 read the letter, requesting the SP to direct the SHO so that the impending police action against him could be stopped.

Speaking to Outlook, his son Sunil Kumar, 21, said, 바카라œThe police told my father that there is a case of 바카라˜17 CL바카라™ against him. The cops asked him to surrender and submit a list of household things like utensils, shovel, pickaxe, spade and other implements.바카라

While pleading for his father바카라™s innocence, Kumar continued, 바카라œWe are living in constant fear. At no time did my father share any connection with the Maoists. He is being framed.바카라 He works as a private surveyor whereas his sisters are college students and his mother is a homemaker.

바카라œA warrant of property attachment is issued against an accused whose whereabouts are unknown. But in the case of Sanjay Majhi and Birsa Majhi, they live with their families among their people. They are well known to everyone. Both of them appear in the local court regularly,바카라 said, Dinesh Murmu, a Gomia based activist with Adivasi Mulawasi Adhikar Manch, adding, his organisation will file a writ petition in Jharkhand High Court against the false implication of illiterate tribals in Maoist cases.

Siraj Dutta, a Ranchi-based social policy analyst associated with the Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha, said, 바카라œThere are several cases of wrongful accusation, police illegalities and harassment of Adivasis. The state government must take cognizance of the continuing human rights violations and such police excesses without any further delay.바카라 Demanding a judicial probe, Dutta said, 바카라œPolice and the security forces must act within the legal and the Constitutional boundaries and stop targetting Adivasis and working-class people in the name of anti-Naxal operations.

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