One of the strongest supporters for a separate State of Jharkhand, Late Justice LPN Shahdeo was also the first former High Court judge to be arrested in 1998-99 for leading the Jharkhand agitation.
Justice Shahdeo was leading the movement of a separate State in 1998-99. It was in the year 1998 when the Union government had decided to send a Bill in the Bihar Assembly stating Jharkhand to be formed as a separate State to which Lalu Prasad Yadav had said that the State would be divided over his dead body.
It was at this time when BJP, JMM, AJSU, Congress- a total of 16 political parties came together and formed the ‘All Party Separate State Formation Committee’. Justice Shahdeo- a supporter of a separate state who also came from a non political background was elected the convener of the committee.
On September 21, 1998- the day on which voting was to be done on the Jharkhand Act in the Bihar Legislature, the committee under the leadership of Justice Shahdeo called for a Jharkhand Bandh. With slogans like ‘Pehle Maati, Phir Party’ thousands of supporters took to the streets and a grand bandh was observed. Leading the protest, Justice Shahdeo was arrested near Shaheed Chowk and taken to Kotwali police station where he along with other supporters was detained for hours.
Always a supporter of a separate State, Justice Shahdeo after retiring from the High Court in 1992 continued to support the movement of a separate State through his writings in local newspapers and public forums.
Born on January 3, 1930 in Kaamta village, Latehar district, Justice Shahdeo did his primary education from a government school and his matriculation from Balkrishna High School, Ranchi. A graduate from Ranchi College, he got his law degree in 1954 and started practicing at the Ranchi Civil Court.
He joined judicial services in 1958 and got his first posting as a Munsif Magistrate in Hazaribagh.
In 1989 Justice Shahdeo became the district and session judge in Dhanbad and was the judge at Patna High Court’s Ranchi bench from 1986 to 1992.