In one of the most unfortunate incidents in Bihar, one youth lost his life when the Katihar police opened fired at the protesting crowd. The fateful incident occurred when villagers from the surrounding region gathered for a protest against the pathetic state of power supply in Barsoi block of Katihar on Wednesday July 26. Such an incident has once agsin exposed the growing concern over the deploarble law and order situation in Bihar.
According to the reports, the protestors jammed the road and were demanding for an uninterrupted power supply in the region, though soon the protest became violent and a few miscreants among the protestors attacked a few members of the electricity department.
Learning about the incident the Katihar police after arriving at the spot tried to disperse the crowd by using force, following which the protestors started pelting stones on the police. Later on the police also fired shots to control the agitated villagers in which a youth was hit by a bullet and died on the spot while two others sustained serious injuries.
The deceased youth has been identified as Khurshid Alam, a resident of Bansal village while the other two youths who were gravely injured in the incident were rushed to hospital from where one of them identified as Niyas has been reportedly referred to West Bengal. Some unconfirmed news of both the youths succumbing to their injuries were also floating between the villagers however the state police in a tweet on late Wednesday evening confirmed the death of only one youth.
Anti-social elements were part of the protest, says police
As per the police, some anti-social elements who were part of the protests attacked the police and the electricity department staff with sticks and stones in which around a dozen people including policemen and staff of electricity department were injured. “The injured have been admitted to sub-divisional hospital and are being treated while an FIR pertaining to the incident has also been filed, informed Bihar police in a series of tweets.”
“Meetings of peace committees are being organized, we will be conducting a thorough enquiry into the matter and strict action would be taken against those who would be found to be guilty in instigating the crowd. We are also reviewing the situation and will act accordingly, so far we have information of one person who died while two others are gravely injured, quoted Ravi Prakash DM Katihar.
Meanwhile the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president of Bihar, Samrat Chaudhary in a video message while terming the incident extremely unfortunate, demanded for a high level enquiry into the matter.
“The way the police have opened fire on the protestors, it’s clear that the Nitish Kumar led government will also target those who will demand for electricity besides jobs”, quoted Mr Chaudhary further.
Later The Bihar BJP in a tweet while slamming the grand coalition government also said ‘that the Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar is only replying with the bullets to each voice. Sharing the video of the incident the Bihar BJP also claimed about the reports of three alleged deaths in the incident.
Many senior officials of the police are reportedly camping in the area and additional forces from nearby police stations have also been deployed in the region. It’s been reported that the situation on ground is still tense while more details about the case are awaited.
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