Bharat Tiwari encounter: Action against officials does little to quell anger
Mahapanchayat gives Bihar CM an ultimatum: 15 days to fix culpability, else we gherao you in Patna
A large gathering of locals, caste confederations, social activists, civil society groups and political parties attended a Mahapanchayat at Bilouti village in Bhojpur on Wednesday and gave Bihar’s Samrat Choudhary government 15 days to identify and book those responsible for the police encounter in which Bharat Bhushan Tiwari was shot dead.
The organisations, including the Jan Suraaj Party (JSP), demanded to know on whose orders the Special Task Force (STF), sent from Patna, fired at Tiwari, allegedly after he had surrendered. Tiwari, whose family described him as a social activist, was shot on the morning of June 17 and died later that day at Patna Medical College and Hospital, reportedly due to “profuse bleeding”. Police claim he was armed and mentally unstable, while his family alleges he had surrendered and that he was targeted for pressing for the rehabilitation of flood victims.
Even as Bhojpur Police has lodged a murder case against a sub-divisional police officer and an SHO, and has suspended five others, the Mahapanchayat — attended by representatives of Karni Sena, Parshuram Mahasabha and Brahmin Mahasabha from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh — accused Chief Minister Choudhary and DGP Vinay Kumar of “mishandling the problem”.
Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor demanded to know who ordered the firing.
“We also want to know who is heading the proposed judicial commission and what its ambit is. Is the Home Department and STF being brought under the purview of the inquiry? Suspending a few officers and a belated FIR against some of them is not justice. Society has sufficient resources to meet the financial needs of the aggrieved family. We give CM Samrat Choudhary 15 days to act decisively on this murder, or else we will gherao the CM in Patna.”
The victim’s mother, Asha Tiwari, claimed while speaking at the gathering: “I don’t want money or a home. I want justice. After my son had thrown his arms, the police dragged my son to the ground and shot him three times right outside. Then, they threw him into the police vehicle and fired two more bullets into him, completely rupturing his body… They kept sitting over my complaint for three days and lodged a case against the policemen only after public outcry.”
Back in Patna, the government has come under attack from its own cabinet colleagues. Senior JD(U) leader and Food and Consumer Protection Minister Ashok Choudhary told The Indian Express that the encounter had “undone all the good things the present government had done on the policing count”.
“How can police shoot an unarmed person? In one instance, you call Bharat mentally ill, and in the next instance, you kill him. This encounter may also damage the social fabric in the entire Shahabad region by threatening to create a social divide. The accountability has to be fixed,” he said.
Amid mounting public backlash, the Bihar administration was forced to act quickly. An FIR under IPC Section 302 (murder) and the Arms Act was filed against the operational team, including then Jagdishpur SDPO Rajesh Kumar Sharma and Shahpur SHO Rajesh Malakar. Sharma was stripped of his duties, attached to police headquarters and replaced by Pankaj Mishra. The state government has also sanctioned a judicial probe by a retired High Court judge.
A large gathering of locals, caste confederations, social activists, civil society groups and political parties attended a Mahapanchayat at Bilouti village in Bhojpur on Wednesday and gave Bihar’s Samrat Choudhary government 15 days to identify and book those responsible for the police encounter in which Bharat Bhushan Tiwari was shot dead.
The organisations, including the Jan Suraaj Party (JSP), demanded to know on whose orders the Special Task Force (STF), sent from Patna, fired at Tiwari, allegedly after he had surrendered. Tiwari, whose family described him as a social activist, was shot on the morning of June 17 and died later that day at Patna Medical College and Hospital, reportedly due to “profuse bleeding”. Police claim he was armed and mentally unstable, while his family alleges he had surrendered and that he was targeted for pressing for the rehabilitation of flood victims.
Even as Bhojpur Police has lodged a murder case against a sub-divisional police officer and an SHO, and has suspended five others, the Mahapanchayat — attended by representatives of Karni Sena, Parshuram Mahasabha and Brahmin Mahasabha from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh — accused Chief Minister Choudhary and DGP Vinay Kumar of “mishandling the problem”.
Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor demanded to know who ordered the firing.
“We also want to know who is heading the proposed judicial commission and what its ambit is. Is the Home Department and STF being brought under the purview of the inquiry? Suspending a few officers and a belated FIR against some of them is not justice. Society has sufficient resources to meet the financial needs of the aggrieved family. We give CM Samrat Choudhary 15 days to act decisively on this murder, or else we will gherao the CM in Patna.”
The victim’s mother, Asha Tiwari, claimed while speaking at the gathering: “I don’t want money or a home. I want justice. After my son had thrown his arms, the police dragged my son to the ground and shot him three times right outside. Then, they threw him into the police vehicle and fired two more bullets into him, completely rupturing his body… They kept sitting over my complaint for three days and lodged a case against the policemen only after public outcry.”
Back in Patna, the government has come under attack from its own cabinet colleagues. Senior JD(U) leader and Food and Consumer Protection Minister Ashok Choudhary told The Indian Express that the encounter had “undone all the good things the present government had done on the policing count”.
“How can police shoot an unarmed person? In one instance, you call Bharat mentally ill, and in the next instance, you kill him. This encounter may also damage the social fabric in the entire Shahabad region by threatening to create a social divide. The accountability has to be fixed,” he said.
Amid mounting public backlash, the Bihar administration was forced to act quickly. An FIR under IPC Section 302 (murder) and the Arms Act was filed against the operational team, including then Jagdishpur SDPO Rajesh Kumar Sharma and Shahpur SHO Rajesh Malakar. Sharma was stripped of his duties, attached to police headquarters and replaced by Pankaj Mishra. The state government has also sanctioned a judicial probe by a retired High Court judge.
