Police in Palamu are zeroing in on its one police station Chainpur, which is said to be the most ‘restless’ police station here for many reasons. First it has a high density panchayat police station. Second it has eight roads. It opens up with Latehar district, Garhwa district and has roads for UP and Chhatisgarh besides a sizeable population of primitive tribe, tribal, scheduled caste, Christians, Muslims, OBCs and the upper castes.
Sources said Chainpur has seen more communal riots and defacement or dismembering of religious relics here when a shrine located in this police station too was most badly defiled than any other police stations. Its places Chando, Kudaga, Kankaree etc have dubious reputations.
Sources said Chainpur rose to extreme notoriety on November 30 voting here at Kusiyara booth where the Congress candidate K N Tripathy took out his licensed pistol, which he claimed was for his safety as he was physically prevented from inspecting the booth then.
The fall out of this incident was 4 FIRs lodged. The atmosphere stands vitiated here and a big caste line is drawn here between OBCs and the upper castes. Sources said the Chainpur police are trying hard to ‘melt or to thin out’ this caste line before the counting here as it is difficult to rule out eruption of pent up emotions on the result day.
The various exit polls of this election in the State too do not predict any sunny day for the ruling BJP here and this further worries the sensible citizens here as for any poll debacle here the warring groups will cry foul that Kusiyara episode was not handled properly and timely by the civil and the police administration on November 30, which both the wings of the administration claimed was handled most swiftly and timely without this episode getting into any escalated.
SP, Palamu, Ajay Linda said, “Police by holding two meetings in a span of two weeks there in Chainpur have sent out a strong message to people to accept poll verdict as people’s decision. There is no room for any aberration and unlawful activity arising out of the poll verdict.”
SDPO Sandip K Gupta at the second meeting too talked tough when he asked the hundred odd people attending this meeting as to what feelings they had now for the Kusiyara episode, which was avoidable and which brought for them FIRs and other legal restrictions.
Gupta again asked if the communities here believe in communal amity then how Chando communal convulsions took place? There was no answer from the gathering in this second meeting.
He asked further had the locals here shown trust and confidence in each other there would not have been clamping of section 107 CrPC against three or four dozen of people here. The SDPO’s point was that no amount of policing could maintain peace anywhere if the people living there do not show co operation and trust. He wanted the same here saying police know as to where people are holding hands together in places of worship over the issue of NRC and CAA.