Firing in Bihta over harassment
2 min readPatna: Tension gripped Bihta, 40km west of Patna, on Tuesday with one group of people firing on another group.
On Tuesday morning, around a dozen people armed with weapons reached Sikandra village and started firing in the air to terrorise people belonging to the Scheduled Caste.
The other group, belonging to a dominant caste, also beat up the lower caste people.
More than 10 rounds were fired in the air to terrorise people. Sources said Tuesday’s attack was in retaliation to the group clash which occurred a week ago.
Tulsi Sao, a resident of Sikandra village, said: “Tension between the two castes erupted last week at a religious event. At Sikandra village, a yagna was going on which a large number of people were attending.
“Last week, a girl was teased by a group of people from a different caste. The girl’s caste members, in retaliation, attacked some Scheduled Caste youths, apprehending that they were involved in the eve-teasing incident,” said Sao.
After last week’s incident, there was tension in the village as both the groups were waiting for a chance to settle the scores. After the firing incident, fresh tension gripped the area on Tuesday.
Police personnel from Bihta, Maner, Naubatpur and other police stations were rushed to the spot to diffuse the tension. Police sources said the police had recovered five empty cartridges from the spot.
Deputy superintendent of police (DSP), Danapur, Manoj Kumar Tiwari said: “The situation in under control. We have identified the group which fired today (Tuesday). Police are conducting raids to nab the youths involved in the incident.”
The DSP added that elderly people from both the communities had been asked to persuade youngsters not to take the situation in their hands.
Sources said apart from the eve-teasing incident that led to tension between the two groups, the escalating land prices in Bihta was said to be reason behind the tension between the two groups.
Sanjay Gupta, a pulses wholeseller in Bihta, said: “The land prices in Bihta and other neighbouring areas have gone up in the past few years. The escalating land prices have lead to tension between the two groups, as some members of the dominant caste are exerting pressure on the other group to sell their land at prices lower than the market rate.”
Courtesy: The Telegraph
