People's Democracy

ON May 10, 2001, a fact finding team consisting of Suneet Chopra, Joint Secretary of the All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU) and central committee member of CPI(M), Dr Namita Singh, general secretary of UP Janvadi Lekhak Sangh, Pushpendra Tyagi, All India Secretariat member of the Democratic Youth Federation of India and Narendra Pachauri, Aligarh district committee memebr of CPI(M) visited the villages of Dhakpura, Dadanpur and Rani Ke Nagla on the Hathras – Sikandra Rau road, where at a brick-kiln belonging to Bhanulal Gupta the wife and children of a brick kiln worker, Naresh son of Lahtan Majhi of Nawada district in Bihar, were burnt alive in their hut on April 7 at about 4 am. This was set alight with furance fuel in the presence of the accountant, a son of the kiln owner, a guard of the kiln, its tractor driver and two other individuals, none of whom are named in the FIR, showing a definite bias against the victims on the part of the local police.

We are horified how this premeditated crime was committed resulting in the cold-blooded murder of a pregnant woman of 35, Smt Kumari Devi and her children Najender (7 years), Phulchand (5 years), Ruby (8 years), Baby (3 years) and Lali (1 year). Only her husband and two sons Jitu (12 years) and Surendra (10 years) survived as they were not in the hut.

What is worse, every bit of evidence was tampered with. We found the hut completely dismantled, with the burnt beams thrown on a rubbish heap and the bricks neatly stacked. Then a tractor was used to carry the bodies in sacks to a depression across the railway track near Dadanpur where they were unceremoniously burnt with the same fuel, two tyres of a tractor straw and other odds and ends. That the murderers should have done so in full view, of three villages and by the railway track around the time a train passed by, reflects the clout they have in the area. They knew they would not be touched.

It is unfortunate that the police too, are still keeping Naresh, Bhaso and other workers who saw the events that led to the murders, in custody. We were not allowed even to meet them. So any statement they give under duress has little value. Moreover, it was reported how even when his family was being cremated, Naresh and another worker were tied up illegally and were being threatened by a policeman, N K Yadav, with dire consequences until a local lawyer, Zalim Singh, took up their brief and an FIR was registered. The kiln owner and his henchmen are still absconding. They are being given protection by those in power in Lucknow and Delhi.

There are also indications that the unfortunate family was actually starving. They were bonded labour. They earned no more than Rs 250 per week and even this was not being given to them, so they had not eaten for two days before they were killed. We found potatoes that were not burnt where the hut was. They appear to have been scattered to show that the family had food enough. We are certain that this case requires to be pursued from the angle of a breach of laws fobidding bondage. This has not been done.

The family of Nresh was definitely bonded and paid the price when it revolted. Apparently, a wage dispute was the cause of the murder. We demand the immediate arrest of all those indicated in the FIR and the notification and verification of all workers working on brick kilns in the area. Bondage must be firmly dealt with. A police force that is worker friendly rather than on trained to terrorise them and vitiate any hope of justice is required, especially as elements in the UP government are defending these criminals.

It is with a sense of deep outrage that we see how the UP government of Rajnath Singh has no concern whatever with what happens to Dalits and laws like the Abolition of Bondage Act (1976) are not being implemented. Those who actually exploit, oppress or even kill fellow citizens who are their slaves get police protection. The CPI(M) vows to lead a powerful movement in the state to wipe out bondage, fake encounters and police oppression. We demand that Naresh Majhi and his companions be released from custody at once and compensated. Those who actually committed the crime are freely wandering in the town of Hathras. They should be arrested at once. We further demand a rehabilitation package for all the brick kiln workers in the area and a strict surveillance of all the brick-kiln owners to see that the laws of the country are not broken with impunity as they are in UP today.

We further demand that the UP government be forced to constitute a state Human Rights Commission, as the over 47,000 human rights violations occuring in UP alone, account for more than two thirds in the country as a whole. It is evident that the state of UP is the worst governed in the country. This situation must be remedied at once or the people will have every right to demand a better government after the resignation of the present one.