Jharkhand Police do have a reason to cheer with increasing number of travelers on the path of Nayi Disha. In yet another remarkable breakthrough to Jharkhand Police, a Naxal Commander of Bihar-Jharkhand-Chhattisgarh Special Area Committee Bharat lal Singh of CPI (Maoist) shun his weapon to leave the path of naxalism for good, and to find himself being welcomed to the mainstream society on Monday.
After Balakeshwar Oraon and Deepak Sahu, being successful to persuade Bharat lal Singh aka Bhanu Ji aka Bhanu Singh Kharbar surrender State police has taken a big sigh of relief this year. Bhanu, a resident of Palhe under PS Chiniya of Garhwa with a reward of Rs. 5 lakh on his head, was having as many as 18 cases registered against him in Garhwa district alone. According to police, cases are also registered against Bhanu in latehar and Balrampur (Chhattisgarh) in last eight years to his active naxal life.
As per surrender and rehabilitation policy of Maoists by State Government, DGP Pandey handed him a cheque of Rs 5 lakh, the amount which was kept as reward on Bhanu, and a cash assistance of Rs 50,000 the moment he surrendered.
He will also be provided opportunity under skill development programme of his interest and caliber with Rs 5,000 as monthly stipend during his training days. However, Bhanu will be kept in jail until all the cases against him get lifted with due legal processes.
“We have been able to motivate more than a dozen Maoists to drop the gun under Operation Nayi Disha this year. Those willing to drop guns to return to the mainstream of society will be welcomed with open arms. However, our warning for those who decide to keep on being threat to civilised society remains clear. They will be treated accordingly,” said DGP DK Pandey.
This surrender of Bhanu Ji remains significant also in a time, when the State police was under serious allegations of organising a couple of ‘fake surrenders’ to pat its own back. The allegations were found ‘prima facie’ true by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) last month itself.
NHRC Chairperson Justice Hl Dattu had said during his visit to Jharkhand that the allegations with respect to the fake surrender of innocent youth posing as naxals in state were found to be prima facie true. He had said that the report related to the same was sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the state government.