The station house officers (SHOs) of five police stations in Bihar’s Munger district were removed from their post for alleged dereliction of duty leading to violent clashes between devotees and police personnel during immersion ritual at the end of Durga Puja festivities resulting in the death of a student and injuries to several others.
The SHOs of Kotwali, Muffasil, Kashimbazar, Basudeopur and Purabsarai police stations were axed on the basis of recommendations by both the police and district administration for their removal.
District administration had sought the election commission’s permission for their removal due to the model code of conduct being in place for polls.
“Prima facie, the report makes it clear that SHOs were lax in responding to the situation in Munger town. A timely response could have averted the violent incidents,” said a senior official at the police headquarters.
On the night of October 26, during Durga puja idol immersion ritual, policemen lathi-charged and fired on devotees. A 19-year-old youth identified as Anurag Kumar Poddar, belonging to a community of businessmen, was killed and nine others including a minor sustained injuries.
An irate mob retaliated on October 29 with arson in police stations, damaged public property and torched several vehicles. Till date, 16 FIRs have been registered against 160 named accused, including six police personnel, CISF personnel and around 3,000 unidentified persons.
Munger range DIG Manu Maharaaj constituted an SIT (special investigation team) under the supervision of district SP Manavjit Singh Dhillon to investigate the entire episode. The SIT would be assessing the damage caused to properties by the mob that went on rampage, torching police stations, vehicles and ransacked SDO and SP’s office and residences.
The Munger administration had decided to assess the damage caused to public and private property in the violence and recover the cost from the culprits. Munger SP held a meeting with SIT members and asked them to collect evidence against the culprits with the help from CCTV footage.
Dhillon also instructed officials to prepare separate reports on the damaged properties and submit it to the court. “No has been arrested yet to avoid any resentment,” said Dhillon, adding that new SHOs have been posted in the respective police stations.
Meanwhile an RTI activist, Om Prakash Poddar, filed a complaint with the Bihar State legal service authority (BSLSA) and urged for filing an FIR against DM Rajesh Meena, SP Lipi Singh, SDO, SHOs and deputed magistrates for firing and baton charging devotees.
Following the complaint, BSLSA’s secretary Akhilesh Pandey sought a detailed report from Munger SP. CISF maintained that the local police fired first and when the situation went out of control, they also fired in the air to disperse the mob.
“On the request of Kotwali police, CISF detachment was sent from the district school camp for providing protection to idol immersion procession. On October 26 at 11:20 pm, a contingent of 20 CISF personnel was deployed. The Munger police divided these 20 soldiers into two groups of 10 each.
“The dispute between the devotees and the police began around 11:45 pm on the night of 26 October. After this, some people started stone pelting on police and security forces,” says the report.