Dalelchak-Bhagaura massacre

Dalelchak-Bhagaura massacre^[1]^[2]
Dalelchak-Bhagaura massacre
Part of caste related violence and massacres in Bihar
	Dalelchak-Bhagaura Dalelchak-Bhagaura (Bihar)
Location	Aurangabad district, Bihar
Coordinates	24°42′N84°21′E / 24.70°N 84.35°E
Date	27 May 1987;37 years ago
Attack type	massacre, possible Gang Rapes
Weapons	Guns, and Axes
Deaths	50-56 killed
Victims	Rajput people
Perpetrators	Maoist Communist Centre
Convicted	8 people

Last updated September 08, 2024

Dalelchak-Bhagaura massacre was a caste based carnage that took place in 1987 in the Aurangabad district of Bihar. The incident was described by the media as one of biggest massacres in the history of Bihar. During this masacre, nearly 50 members of the Rajput caste were killed. However the exact figure of casualties is disputed with some sources claiming death tolls to be as high as 56.^[2]^[3]

Background

The Aurangabad district, which is also known as "Mini Chittorgarh" of Bihar due to presence of significant Rajput population was not different from any other part of the economically backward state. Here the feudalism of the worst kind prevailed, in which some of the affluent houses had control over vast swathes of land while others lacked even the basic necessities like proper clothes on their body as described in a report of " India Today ".^[1]

The twin village of Dalelchak and Bhagaura contained several castes but most of the land in surrounding region was owned by Bodhgaya mahant and few landlords. The Yadav people of the village where in long drawn conflict with the Rajputs over the control of a large area of government land. In these conflicts several small scale killings and counter killings had occurred in the past. The notable among them was the 'massacre of Anjan village', where Maoist Communist Centre (MCC), an extremist organisation dominated by Yadavs killed a Rajput landlord. In the vendetta, the Rajputs hit back by killing 7 Yadavs in "Chhechani" village.^[1]

The action of Rajputs was a result of the notification issued by "Krantikari Kisan Committee", a communist organisation dominated by backward castes which banned the sale of hundreds of acre of land belonging to "Mahant", which was not liked by the Rajputs. A landlord Babu Lootan Singh bought the land but ended up putting a challenge to the armed cadres of MCC dominated by Yadavs.^[3]

The killings at "Parasdih" and revenge killing of 11 Rajputs at "Darmia" village also served as a propellent to this incident which took place in Dalelchak-Bhagaura. The Bihar was ruled at this time by Bindeshwari Dubey led Congress government and the tug of war between "upper castes" and backwards for political and economic dominance was on peak.^[1]

Killing pattern

According to the media reports framed by the account of spectators, a band of 300–400 armed man rushed towards the village in the darkness of night. It was also witnessed that, those who were in feud with the Rajputs of the village over the land were pointing towards the houses to be attacked. Earlier, a Rajput landlord of the village who was also a member of Chandra Shekhar's Janata Party had bought 40 acres of disputed land from the "Mahant" and had displaced the sharecroppers forcibly providing a solid cause for the MCC to come in picture, because of their hatred towards Capitalism and the Feudalism.^[1]

The killing began with the men shot dead outside the houses. Some of them were killed while they were attempting to flee. The killers then entered the house and women members of the community were caught, their heads were put upon an improvised chopping block and were beheaded with local made axes. After the mass killing took place, the attackers lighted all the houses belonging to Rajputs and the corpse were thrown into the fire emerging out of the burning houses. There were houses of other castes too but none came to help the victims.

Till May 1987, Baghaura-Dalelchak was home to over 200 people: Rajputs, Yadavs, Kumhars (potters), Pasis (toddy tappers) and Ravidases (cobblers). The day the Maoists shot and hacked to death almost all the Rajputs present – from an 80-year-old woman to an 18-month-old baby – all the others fled their homes.

—The Telegraph^[4]

The intelligence network at Patna had given signals of possible vendetta on the part of Yadavs after the Chhechani, and patrol units were alerted near the vulnerable villages, but afterall nothing could stop the lynching party from committing mass murders.^[1] According to Ram Deen Singh, a victim of the incident:

"The Yadavs want us to be finished, so that they can take our land cheaply." With the Koel canal coming up right alongside Baghaura, land in the village would soon have been precious beyond words.^[1]

While hiding in his haystack, Amresh Singh of Dalelchak heard the killer mob shout:

"MCC zindabad" and "Chhechani ka badla le liya" (We have taken revenge for Chhechani - where Rajputs had killed Yadavs in April) before disappearing into the night.^[1]

Later, a Times of India report covered the ground situation of the village in aftermath of the carnage as well as the failure of government to deal with the plight of victims. Though Chief Minister Bindeshwari Dubey paid a visit to the village, nothing more was done to ward off the fears from the mind of the affected families and to end the cause of disputes which had the potential to bring more cases of inter-caste conflicts in the future between the two communities. According to another victim Vinay Singh:

"Bus ek sarkari naukri mili hai anukampa ke adhar par jis se pariwar chal raha hai, Bhagwan ne jo mere sath kiya wo kisi ke sath na kare (What I have got is a government job on compassionate ground. What God has done to me, He should not do it with others)," he said.^[2]

According to the same report, Vinay was not the only person to bear this pain. When TOI reached the village, Chandra Devi (80) was present in the village. She still remembers the gory scene.

"Bhagwan ne sab chin liya, ab pata nahi ki gaon mein pahle ki tarah khusian aayengi bhi ya nahi (God has snatched what we had. Whether the village would witness prosperity again or not who knows)," she said.^[2]

Atrocities against women

Writers Ashok Kumar and SK Ghosh have mentioned that the incident of Dalelchak-Baguaura massacre is often seen as the retaliation of the massacre at Chhechani, another village in Bihar. In the Chhechani village, prior to the event of Dalelchak Baguaura, an armed group of Rajput landlords had killed 7 Yadav men and raped their women with impunity. As a response to this killing and humiliation, nearly 700 armed men belonging to Yadav, Kurmi, Koeri and other backward caste descended upon the village of Dalelchak-Baghaura, a Rajput hamlet. The two writers have detailed as to how men, women and children were all pulled out from their beds and their hands and feet were tied to ropes. This was followed by the gang rapes of women in front of their family members, their male relatives.^[5] The writers say that women of all ages including those above 60 years were raped by the attackers.^[6] But the other sources only describe brutal killings of men, women and children with no mention of rape.^[7]^[1]

Consequences

As a result of this ghastly incident, a total of 40 Rajput families fled the village. According to Vinay Singh, a native of village who survived the carnage and owned "25 bigha" of land in the village, he never wants to return to the village but visits infrequently because of his mother who has close attachment to her ancestral village and the home. Those who lost their kins were given only government job in the name of compensation, like Singh received a job after losing 20 members of his family.^[8]

Conviction

In December 1992, eight of the accused in the massacre were found guilty and sentenced to death by the Aurangabad Additional Sessions Court. However, the death sentences were never carried out.^[9] Another accused of the massacre, Ramashray Paswan, was taken into custody and thereafter released after serving eleven month imprisonment.^[10]

Related Research Articles

Lalu Prasad Yadav is an Indian politician and president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). He is a former Chief Minister of Bihar (1990-1997), a former Railway Minister of India (2004-2009), and a former Member of Parliament (MP) of the Lok Sabha.

The Ranvir Sena is a militia functioning as a landlord group, mainly based in the state of Bihar, India. The group was formed by Bhumihar landlords in 1994, with the aim to counter the influence of various left-wing militants, Naxalite groups and the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation (CPI-ML) in central Bihar and to create Upper Cast Dominance in Central Bihar through Militant Activities. The Ranvir Sena has been connected to a number of massacres including the massacre at Laxmanpur Bathe. It always been accused of human rights abuses and violence with Lower Casts. The Bihar state government banned the Ranvir Sena in July 1995, but the group continue to remain active. The group has frequently publicly claimed responsibility for its crimes with impunity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caste-related violence in India</span>

Caste-related violence in India has occurred and continues to occur in various forms.

Kushwaha is a community of the Indo-Gangetic Plain that has traditionally been involved in agriculture, including beekeeping. The term has been used to represent different sub-castes of the Kachhis, Kachhvahas, Koeris and Muraos. Under the Indian government's system of positive discrimination, the Kushwahas are classified as a "Backward" or Other backward class. The Kushwaha had worshipped Shiva and Shakta, but beginning in the 20th century, they claim descent from the Suryavansh (Solar) dynasty via Kusha, one of the twin sons of Rama and Sita. At present, it is a broad community formed by coming together of several caste groups with similar occupational backgrounds and socio-economic status, who, over the time, started inter-marrying among themselves and created all India caste network for caste solidarity. The communities which merged into this caste cluster includes Kachhi, Kachhwaha, Kushwaha, Mali, Marrar, Saini, Sonkar, Murai, Shakya, Maurya, Koeri and Panara.

The politics of Bihar, an eastern state of India, is dominated by regional political parties. As of 2021, the main political groups are Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Janata Dal (United) (JDU), Indian National Congress (INC), Left Front, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM). There are also some smaller regional parties, including Samata Party, Hindustani Awam Morcha, Rashtriya Jan Jan Party, Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal, Jan Adhikar Party and Vikassheel Insaan Party, Lok Janshakti Party and Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party, which play a vital role in politics of state. As of 2024, Bihar is currently ruled by NDA, after JDU break out from Mahagatbandhan (Grandalliance) coalition and returned to NDA fold.

The Laxmanpur Bathe massacre was a massacre conducted in the Laxmanpur Bathe village in Arwal district of Bihar, where 58 scheduled caste people were killed by members of the Ranvir Sena in retaliation for the Bara massacre in which 37 upper castes were killed. Laxmanpur Bathe is a village in Arwal district in Bihar, on the Son river about 90–km from Patna.

The Central Organising Committee, Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Party Unity, more commonly known as CPI(ML) Party Unity or simply 'Party Unity', was a communist party in India 1982-1998. Narayan Sanyal alias Naveen Prasad was the general secretary of the party. Party Unity was the official organ of the party. CPI(ML) Party Unity was one of the predecessors of the Communist Party of India (Maoist).

The 1996 Bathani Tola massacre was an incident of caste-related violence in which an upper-caste militia killed 21 Dalits, including women and children, in the Bhojpur district in Indian state of Bihar on 11 July 1996. The attacks were allegedly by members of the Ranvir Sena, in response to Dalit labourers' demand for wage increase.

Bara massacre was a caste based carnage that took place in 1992 in Bihar. At midnight on 12–13 February 1992, the Maoist Communist Centre of India killed 40 Bhumihars at Bara Village in Gaya district of Bihar, India. The MCC's armed group brought the 35 men of Bara village to the bank of a nearby canal, tied their hands and slit their throats. As many as 36 people were accused of the crime, but charges were framed against only 13. The police failed to arrest the others, who had defied their summons.

The Paswan, also known as Dusadh, are a Dalit community from eastern India. They are found mainly in the states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. The Urdu word Paswan means bodyguard or "one who defends". The origin of the word, per the belief of the community, lies in their participation in the battle against Siraj-ud-daulah, the Nawab of Bengal at the behest of British East India Company, after which they were rewarded with the post of Chowkidars and lathi wielding tax collector for the Zamindars. They follow certain rituals such as walking on fire to assert their valour.

Rajputs in Bihar are members of the Rajput community living in the eastern Indian state of Bihar. They traditionally formed part of the feudal elite in Bihari society. Rajputs were pressed with the Zamindari abolition and Bhoodan movement in post-independence India; along with other Forward Castes, they lost their significant position in Bihar's agrarian society, leading to the rise of Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

The criminal Ashok Mahto gang, which was active in the Indian state Bihar, was led by Ashok Mahto and included Pintu Mahto. Ashok Mahto and his gang were responsible for the 2005 killing of Rajo Singh, a sitting Member of Parliament. Ashok Mahto was imprisoned but escaped from Nawada jail in 2002. Pintu Mahto killed three police officers during the prison breakout. The gang's leaders are said to belong to either the Kurmi or Koeri caste, and were supported by the backward castes in the Nawada and Sheikhpura regions. The Mahto gang was waging a war of retribution against the exploitative upper-caste Bhumihars. Mahto and his gang were responsible for the killings of a large number of Forward Caste people in the late 1990s.

The Afsar massacre was a mass shooting and mass stabbing that killed 12 people in the Indian village of Afsar, in 2000. The massacre was the result of caste wars of Bihar, which originate from clashes between upper-caste, who were supporters of the existing status quo, and the lower castes, who wanted to change the current system. According to the data by the "South Asia terrorism portal", the victims of these caste wars were most often Dalits, followed by Forward Castes, while Upper Backwards were victims less frequently than any other group.

The Lorik Sena was a caste-based private army of Yadav (Ahir) Community with its headquarters in Jaitipur village of the Nalanda district of Bihar. The majority of its members hailed from the Yadav community, who were organised by its founder Baiju Yadav, to launch an armed struggle against Maoists and other communities such as Bhumihars, Rajputs. It was another group after Samajwadi Shoshit Sena which recruited primarily from the Ahir-Yadav community. According to local folktales, Lorik was a legendary hero of the Yadav raiyyats (peasants) who waged a struggle against the tyranny of repressive kings and the feudal lords and held the Yadav dignity intact. These Senas were based primarily on the name of such community figures, either realistic or mythical who were venerated by whole community. While the Rajputs chose the 19th century figure, King Kunwar Singh's name for their private army, the Yadav community found their mythical hero as suitable for the same.

The Backward Caste movement in Bihar can be traced back to the formation of Triveni Sangh, a caste coalition and political party, in the 1930s, which was revived after the introduction of land reforms in the 1950s aimed at removing intermediaries from agrarian society. But, this drive could not succeed in bringing long-lasting changes in the condition of lower strata of society, as they lacked political representation and economic power. The period since land reform included caste conflicts and the class struggle which eventually led to a transfer of absolute political power in the hands of Backward Castes, who had been kept away from it earlier. The class struggle succeeded the struggle of some of the Upper Backward Castes against the sacerdotal authorities for improvement in their ritual status. By the 1990s, the conflict between upper-castes and the lower-castes continued, with nearly 17 massacres taking place during this time period. But with the advent of politics of social justice and the Janata Dal in the 1990s, the lower caste became more active politically.

Bhojpur uprising refers to the class conflict manifested in armed uprising of the 1970s, that took place in the various villages of the Bhojpur district of Bihar. These clashes were part of the Naxalite-Maoist insurgency in the state, which mobilised the agricultural labourers and the poor peasants against the landlords, primarily belonging to upper-castes. A distinguished feature of these insurgencies were their confinement to the villages, and the nine towns of the Bhojpur district remained unaffected from the periodic skirmishes between the armed groups. One of the reason sought for this peculiar feature is the absence of modern industries in the districts. The economy of the district was primarily agrarian, and the industrial proletariat class was absent.

Dalits in Bihar are a social group composed of many Scheduled Castes, placed at the bottom of the "caste-based social order". The Dalits also include some of the erstwhile untouchable castes, who suffered various forms of oppression in the feudal-agrarian society of Bihar. Some of the Dalit castes have specific cultural practices, which differ from those of orthodox Hinduism.

The Ramashish Koeri gang was a caste based dacoit band, that was led by Ramashish Koeri. The gang was active in the Kaimur plateau region of Bihar, located in present Rohtas district. Earlier, the gang was led by Mohan Bind, after whose death in a police encounter, Ramashish Koeri became the new leader. The gang, along with four other caste-based gangs led by Ghamari Karwar, Rambachan Yadav, Triveni Kahar, and Gaurik was responsible for over hundred murders in the Kaimur region.

The Jahanabad prison attack, also known as the Jahanabad jail break incident was a naxalite operation, conducted by the members of Communist Party of India (Maoist) against the state of Bihar, on 13 November 2005. In the backdrop of legislative assembly elections being conducted in the state and lack of elected government in power, the state machinery was involved in conducting the elections in free and fair manner. The President's rule was being implemented in the state, and the Naxalites found it a good opportunity to conduct this massive operation. As per various reports, around 12 people, all belonging to Ranvir Sena were killed by the naxalites in this incident. This event was not centred around the prison only, which was the centre of operation, but around 1000 Naxalites were inside the city of Jahanabad, who virtually controlled the city for a short span of time. A total of 389 prisoners were freed by the Naxalites in this operation codenamed 'Operation Jailbreak'. Those who were freed, also included Ajay Kanu— a top level Naxal commander, and many of the Maoists. The operation was conducted by People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (India)— a militant underground unit of CPI (Maoist).

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Farzand Ahmed, T.N Ninan (30 June 1987). "Massacre of 42 Rajputs in Bihar villages marks a new level of brutality". India Today . Archived from the original on 6 January 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
1 2 3 4 Kumar, Nikhil (22 May 2016). "29-years-on-here-people-still-fear-to-tread". The Times of India . Archived from the original on 6 January 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
1 2 Srivastava, Arun (2015). Maoism in India. Prabhat Prakashan. ISBN 978-9351865131.
↑ VERMA, NALIN. "After-the-massacre-death-of-a-hamlet-first-maoist-carnage-site-in-bihar-is-a-near-empty-shell". The Telegraph . Archived from the original on 29 April 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
↑ Dr. Ashok Kumar (2022). Terrorism, Naxalism & Insurgency in India. K.K. Publications. pp. 217–218. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
↑ S. K. Ghosh (1995). Terrorism, World Under Siege. APH Publishing. p. 221. ISBN 8170246652 . Retrieved 27 May 2022.
↑ VERMA, NALIN. "After-the-massacre-death-of-a-hamlet-first-maoist-carnage-site-in-bihar-is-a-near-empty-shell". The Telegraph . Archived from the original on 29 April 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
↑ Singh, Santosh. "A-ghost-village". Archive.indianexpress.com. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
↑ "Maoist killers in Bihar, accused of killing 43 Rajput peasants, sentenced to death". India Today. 15 December 1992. Archived from the original on 27 February 2021.
↑ "ये है बड़े नरसंहार का पूर्व आरोपी, अब चाहता है मौत की पनाह, मांग रहा है मदद". Bhaskar. Retrieved 28 July 2023.