On Sunday, July 23, the Darbhanga district in Bihar was gripped by communal clashes after some members of the Muslim community created a ruckus and stopped the last rites of a Hindu villager named Shrikant Paswan. The incident occurred in the Hariharpur tola- Mallpati village under Kamtaul police station limits on Sunday evening.
Various media outlets reported the incident and said that the clash occurred over ownership rights to a cremation ground. Compelled by their biases, however, they went on to hide the religious identity of the perpetrators and other details related to religion.
Mostly all the reports said that the ruckus ensued after members of ‘a particular community’ from the nearby Mallpati village stopped the funeral of a local villager named Shrikant Paswan.
The reports quoted locals as saying that members of ‘a particular community’ hailing from Malpatti village arrived on the spot and opposed the cremation, leading to a confrontation. Soon, the situation escalated into stone-pelting and clashes, resulting in injuries to nearly a dozen people, including some policemen.
Some media reports, however, added that the miscreants assaulted and tossed the dead body of Shrikant Paswan and urinated on it. This particular allegation was, however, refuted by the Bihar police.
Media reports allege inhumanity with the dead body
A detailed report on this incident was published on 25 July 2023 in the Darbhanga edition of Dainik Bhaskar. The report carried a headline in Hindi which roughly translate to: “Dead body was not only beaten but also thrown away in Kamtaul: When protested, houses were set on fire and vandalized in front of the police.”
@BJP4Bihar @ajeetbharti @BJPITCellTS @AmanChopra_ #जय_भीम_जय_मीम बिहार के दरभंगा जिले के कमतौल गांव की घटना दलित के शव को लाठी से पीटा है शव पर पेशाब किया शव को जलने नहीं दिया पुलिस गाडी,घरों को जलाया कहाँ हो @Profdilipmandal @ajitanjum pic.twitter.com/VM18Q9Ujdw
— संतोष कुमार झा (@JhaSrajha310) July 25, 2023
Dainik Bhaskar published the same news in its online edition on July 24 with the headline: “Dead body thrown from burning pyre in Darbhanga… People beaten: Ruckus over cremation ground, stones pelted on police; House arson, vehicles burnt”.
According to the details provided in both of these reports, members of “a particular community” mistreated the dead body of Shrikant Paswan. The reports said that the miscreants thrashed the dead body; picked it out of the pyre and threw it to the ground. They then urinated on the corpse. The miscreants did not stop at that but also looted, vandalised and set fire to the deceased’s house. They pelted stones at those who had gathered there for Shrikant Paswan’s last rites.
In fact, the report by Hindi daily Dainik Jagran also reported that the trouble began during the last rites of one Shrikant Paswan.
None of these reports, however, specified the identity of the ‘community’ that created the ruckus.
News 18 Hindi also reported the incident refraining from mentioning the name of the community that started the commotion resulting in the communal clash.
दरभंगा के कमतौल में श्मशान की जमीन पर अंतिम संस्कार को लेकर आपस में भिड़े दो समुदाय के लोग। मारपीट में दस लोग घायल। pic.twitter.com/H4GtKzTRcz
— News18 Bihar (@News18Bihar) July 24, 2023
The Darbhanga police took to Twitter on July 24, to share a press statement released by the SSP office on the issue. It read that clashes broke out during the funeral of Shrikant Paswan in Hariharpur tola- Mallpati village under Kamtaul police station limits on Sunday evening. The police said that the clash happened between members of the two communities. It added that eight people were apprehended in connection with violence and that the situation has since returned to normal, with the police conducting flag marches in the area.
“There was an incident of conflict between the two sides over the accusation of preventing the cremation of a dead body, which led to the vandalisation of one another’s houses by the two sides,” the press statement issued by the SSP office added.
दरभंगा पुलिस द्वारा कमतौल थाना क्षेत्र के ग्राम- हरिहरपुर टोला मालपट्टी स्थित शमशान घाट पर दो समुदायों के बीच उत्पन्न विवाद से संबंधित कार्रवाई ……..#biharpolice pic.twitter.com/Ux5mUrLenR
— Darbhanga Police (@DarbhangaPolice) July 24, 2023
Nowhere did the press statement mention that the members of the Muslim community mistreated the dead body of Shrikant Paswan.
Additionally, when OpIndia contacted the Kamtaul police station in charge, he also refuted the claims that the body of the deceased Shrikant Paswan was mistreated. He said that the deceased body was kept on the pyre when the police arrived at the scene after learning about the incident. He added that police reinforcements were dispatched to the scene, and Paswan was ultimately cremated under police supervision. Top officials intervened to pacify the gathered crowd.
He also said that the victim’s family had not made any mention of the dead body being mistreated in their complaint either.
When we asked him to give the names of those who had opposed the cremation which ultimately led to the confrontation, the officer refused to divulge any details.
Which ‘community’ was opposing the last rites?
The identity of the ‘community’ opposing the last rites has not been officially disclosed, but the cremation ground where Shrikant Paswan’s body was taken for his last rites shares the border with the Malpatti village in the neighbourhood. According to the local people, members of the Muslim community hailing from Malpatti village have been for the last two years claiming ownership rights to the cremation ground.
As per the locals, this land actually belongs to the Gram Panchayat. They said that this was the first time that a clash happened over the cremation of a dead body, adding that the Muslim residents from the Malpatti village were the ones who had opposed the cremation.
Notably, Ashraf Ahmed, the District President of All India Muslim Bedari Caravan, a Muslim outfit based in Darbhanga had also written a letter to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar apprising him about the aforementioned incident, in which they also confirmed that some Muslims hailing from Malpatti village had arrived on the spot and opposed the cremation. The outfit accused the Mukhiya (head) of Hariharpur panchayat, Ajay Jha of conspiring and spearheading the Sunday clash.
Additionally, the tweet posted by Darbhanga police also confirmed that those opposing the funeral were residents of the Malpatti village.
Locals who were privy to the incident refuted the allegations meted out at Ajay Jha by the Muslim organisation. They confirmed that Jha had arrived there with the local authorities after learning about the dispute over the cremation of Shrikant Paswan. A Royal Enfield bike of the mukhiya (head) of Hariharpur panchayat, Ajay Jha, was also burnt by the miscreants.
Locals also said that Ajay Jha was summoned to the police station the following day on the pretence of causing a disturbance after the Muslim side filed a complaint in this regard.
Nazere Alam, a member of the India Muslim Bedari Caravan, who spoke with OpIndia, also said that Ajay Jha was taken into custody the next day after the Muslim side filed a complaint against him. Kamtaul police station in-charge also confirmed that Ajay Jha is in police custody.
Dalit community being stripped of their basic rights in Bihar: BJP condemns the incident
Condemning the incident in a tweet, the state unit of BJP slammed the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar and accused it of playing appeasement politics. “In the Grand Alliance government, the Dalit community cannot even burn a dead body. A particular community removed the dead body from the pyre in a crematorium in Darbhanga and threw it. Then the houses of the people who came to burn the dead body were also burnt. Paswan community people were brutally assaulted,” BJP tweeted with the hashtag #ThagbandhanAppeasement.
महागठबंधन सरकार में दलित समाज अब लाश भी नहीं जला सकता।
— BJP Bihar (@BJP4Bihar) July 24, 2023
दरभंगा में श्मशान में जलती हुई लाश को एक विशेष समुदाय ने निकालकर फेंका। फिर लाश जलाने आए लोगों का घर भी फूंक दिया।पासवान समाज के लोगों का सिर भी फोड़ा।
क्या ठगबंधन वालों की ओर एक शब्द भी सुना?#ThagbandhanAppeasement pic.twitter.com/UMxawQCgIN
The tweet includes a video, which depicted the one-sided coverage of the incident by the biased media. Along with this, the BJP questioned the appalling apathy of the Nitish Kumar government towards such incidents happening in the state.
