Taking a serious note of the killing of labourer Motilal Baski in a police encounter at Dholkatta village in Giridih under Pirtand Police Station on June 9, 2017, former Chief Minister Hemant Soren demanded judicial inquiry into the matter and said that his party will initiate statewide protest if the government did not clear its stand within 48 hours. Talking to the media persons at his official residence in Ranchi, Soren claimed that the State Police have been targeting innocent and poor tribals in the name of anti-Naxal operations which could not be tolerated.
“Baski was a registered labourer at Jain Mandir located on Parasnath Hills where he also ran a small tea stall and also provided food to the labourers. He was killed by the Police and the CRPF, without any reason,” said Soren. They are now trying to give it a naxal angle, he added.
Soren further added that that it was a cause of concern that the tribals living in the remote distant areas are being targeted and are being killed by the Police and the CRPF in the name of Naxal encounter.
“The Government must take cognizance of it and order a high level judicial inquiry into the matter and immediately pay an ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh long with government job to the nearest kin of the deceased,” said the former CM. Despite the fact that he had been allotted Indira Awas and first installment was credited in his Bank of India account, the State Government has been spraying bullets on innocent and poor tribals in the State, he added.
“We have taken a strong note of this incident and want the State Government to clear its stand within 48 hours or be ready for statewide protest. We have also calling a bandh on June 17 in the block where the incident has taken place,” said Soren.
Soren further said that Baski’s wife Parwati Murmu with them on Thursday who told him about the incident in detail. “She said that after the death of her husband, they had no one to feed the family of 3 children, the eldest of being merely of 16 years of age,” he added.
“This is not the first incident as combing operation is carried out very frequently during the poor tribals are thrashed to death. But this time they crossed limits and are now up to taking their lives without any reason,” said Soren.
Talking about the recent incidents of farmer’s committing suicide in the State, Soren informed that according to the recent data provided by National Crime Records Bureau, there has been a rise of 42 per cent in the rate of committing suicides all over the Country during NDA rule.