At least three villages in West Champaran district in Bihar have nearly emptied themselves out over the past fortnight because of an alleged police crackdown that followed the murder of a police officer in a backlash triggered by a suspected custody death.

An eerie silence prevails in Balthar, Aryanagar and Bhaura villages, which come under Balthar police station, located around 225km north from the state capital Patna. Locks dangle on the main doors of the houses, windows are shut and shops are closed. The villagers have taken away the cattle also.

All the villagers have gone to stay with their relatives in other villages. Sometimes one or two people come back to recover some necessary household goods or valuables. They scurry away quickly to avoid coming into the glare of the police personnel present around the villages.

“What happened was unfortunate, but what the police have done is unbelievable. They have thrashed the villagers, misbehaved with women and implicated a large number of innocent people in false cases. Valuables are missing from the houses where the police did a naked dance of destruction. What pains me more is that no minister or senior government official has intervened. We have been uprooted,” Ramsevak Patel, 75, of Blathar village told media persons last week.

The deserted Aryanagar village. Sanjay Choudhary

Patel and his wife have gone to stay with a relative living in a village several kilometres away, just like other 250 families of Balthar. Same situation prevails in Aryanagar and Bhaura.

It all started on March 19, during the Holi celebrations. The police took one Aniruddh Yadav of Balthar into custody for using huge sound amplifiers, locally known as DJ, at a high decibel level. He later died at the Balthar police station.

Angry villagers alleged that the police had thrashed him brutally, and attacked the police station. Assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Ram Janak Singh was killed while several other police personnel were injured. Several patrol vehicles were also set on fire.

The police raided the villages and allegedly thrashed the residents. They registered four FIRs, accusing 781 named and 3,000 unnamed persons for attacking the police station and killing the ASI. They also claimed that Yadav died after being stung by bees.

Virendra Prasad Gupta, the CPI-ML MLA from Sikta constituency under which the affected villages and police station falls, rushed to intervene on the day of Holi. The police did not spare him either. He suffered several lathi blows before being rescued by Bettiah SP Upendra Nath Verma.

“The police behaved brutally with the villagers. They also misbehaved with the women, looted money and ornaments and damaged doors, windows and furniture. People felt that it was not possible to stay safe or protect the honour of the women and left the villages,” Gupta told The Telegraph.

“Naming 781 persons in the FIR is too much. Thousands have been made unnamed accused. This also has made the people afraid and is one of the reasons behind the exodus. The West Champaran district magistrate and Bettiah SP assured me that they would restore normalcy. I raised the issue in the legislative Assembly also. But, nothing has happened till now,” Gupta added.

There are few households in the villages from which at least one person doesn’t figure in the FIRs. They have been accused of murder, rioting, arson, loot, destruction of public property, and attack on government officials among others.

Champaran range deputy inspector general (DIG) Pranav Kumar Praveen told this newspaper: “If an FIR is registered on the statement of the police and the accused are named, it is believed that the police must have identified each of them, unless proven wrong. I will not comment on this. Let the investigation go on.”

Praveen accepted that people had fled from the villages after the FIR and raids to apprehend the accused, but asserted that the onus was on the villagers to prove that they were not involved.

“We have witnessed a serious crime in which a police station has been attacked and a police official has been brutally killed. This is a concern for the entire society and it is for the society to resolve it. The villagers need to bring either the accused forward or submit proof that they are not involved in the incident,” the DIG said.

Some West Champaran officials said that people from the Bajrang Dal were involved in the attack on the police station and chants of “Jai Shri Ram" were heard during the incident.

The Champaran DIG said that he was yet to receive any such report by his men, but did not rule out this possibility.

“It will not be proper to name any organisation without knowing things with certainty, nor our focus is on any chant or slogan. We are focusing on the crime that happened. But yes, the mentality of the people involved could have leaned towards the right wing. Maybe their religious sentiments were hurt when the DJ was stopped,” Praveen said.