Motorcycle-borne muscleman fired indiscriminately in the air at a Mahadalit locality in Nawada district of Bihar, thrashed residents, looted their valuables and torched around 80 houses on Wednesday evening allegedly over a land dispute.

Police have arrested 15 people so far, mostly Dalits, and claimed that only 21 houses had been gutted while 13 were partially damaged.

No casualties or serious injuries were reported in the aftermath of the attack at Krishna Nagar, a locality inhabited by Mahadalits, chiefly the Musahar and Ravidas communities.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar monitored the situation and dispatched Bihar police additional director-general (law and order) Sanjay Singh to the spot. He has also directed all district magistrates and superintendents of police to “focus on ensuring the rule of law in the state”.

Damaged utensils at one of the vandalised houses in Nawada.

According to Nawada superintendent of police Abhinav Dhiman, the police “received information around 7.15pm that goons had torched huts near the river at Krishna Nagar”.

Senior police officers, including the SP, and the fire brigade rushed to the spot and the flames were doused within a few hours.

“Vyas Muni, an eyewitness, said a title suit case was ongoing at the Nawada civil court with regard to the land on which the huts were built,” Dhiman said.

Muni accused Nandu Paswan, Pannu Paswan, Shibu Paswan and Shrawan Paswan of Pran Bigha village; Yamuna Chauhan, Somar Chauhan, Nunu Prasad and Ashish Yadav of Lohani Bigha village; Dashrath Chauhan, Badri Chauhan, Ram Sharan Chauhan, Mithilesh Chauhan and Yadunandan Chauhan of Raghunathpur village and several others of firing and setting the dwellings on fire.

The other victims of the fire said that the dispute over the land was ongoing for over 50 years, but had gathered steam because of the recent land survey in Bihar.

“We have registered an FIR under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Arms Act and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against 28 named and several unnamed accused. We have arrested 15 people, including the main accused Nandu Paswan, and recovered three country-made pistols, three bullets, two cartridge casings and six motorcycles from them,” the Nawada SP said.

The Nawada Sadar sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) is leading a special investigation team (SIT) formed in the wake of the incident. A magistrate, several police officers and adequate number of police personnel have been deployed at the place
of occurrence.

Intensive patrolling was being conducted and monitoring done from the state headquarters. The district administration has made arrangements for food and tents for the victims.

The Nawada violence triggered a political uproar cutting across party lines, with the Opposition slamming the NDA government in the state and demanding strict action against the perpetrators.

“The burning of the entire tola (locality) of Mahadalits in Nawada and the destruction of the houses of over 80 families have brought forth a fearsome image of injustice against Bahujans in Bihar. The screams of the Dalit families who have lost their houses and property and the terror among the deprived society due to the frightening firing could not wake up the sleeping Bihar government,” said Rahul Gandhi, the leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

Rahul accused the BJP and other NDA constituents of harbouring anarchical elements who scare and oppress the Bahujans so that they cannot demand their social and constitutional rights.

“The Prime Minister’s silence on this conspiracy is a stamp of approval on it. The Bihar government and state police should take strict and swift action against the culprits and rehabilitate the victim families to provide full justice to them,” Rahul added.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi also condemned the incident.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad attacked the Nitish-led government over the violence and said: “It indicates that governance has collapsed in the state. The government has failed to uphold law and order. I will find out what actually happened in Nawada.”

Union minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha Secular (HAMS) leader Jitan Ram Manjhi blamed RJD supporters for the incident.

“This is a surprising thing that the people of the Opposition torture the Dalits and then make an issue out of it to question the functioning of the government. The majority of the people arrested in the Nawada fire incident are of a certain caste and supporters of the RJD,” Manjhi said.

Union minister and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan demanded a judicial enquiry into the incident. He sought all possible help from the government for the affected families and said that he would meet them soon.