8 village Headmen Killed in Bihar in Last 7 Months

Crime seems to getting uncontrollable in Bihar with criminals even regularly targeting public representatives with impunity. In the last seven months, since the run-up to the Panchayat polls, eight mukhiyas (village heads) were killed in several districts.

The state government has taken measures to provide security to elected representatives but still they are being attacked fatally on a regular basis.

The latest incident was reported from Saharsa district where Ranjit Shah, mukhiya of Khajuri Panchayat under Saur Bazar block, was gunned down on Friday evening.

His supporters blocked the NH-107 for 18 hours but there have been no arrests so far.

The murder of mukhiyas and other Panchayat representatives hstarted during the run-up to the Panchayat election held from September to November.

In Patna’s Pandarak area, unidentified assailants had gunned down Priya Ranjan Kumar alias Gore Lal soon after he was elected mukhiya in October.

Niraj Kumar, mukhiya of Rampur Faridpur Panchayat in Patna, was also killed in similar fashion.

Parmanand Tuddu, the Mukhiya of Azimpur Panchayat under Maoist-affected Darahara block of Munger district, was also killed soon after the election result announced in October 2021.

Sukhal Mushar of Dhaniwata Panchayat under Thawe police station was killed in Gopalganj, as was Jayprakash Prasad of Darkha Panchayat in Jamui, Sanjay Singh of Babubandh Panchayat of Bhojpur, and Anita Devi of Kumaitha Panchayat in Bhagalpur.

During police investigation, it appeared that in almost all cases that the murders took place due to election enmity with rival leaders who lost the Panchayat elections.

Panchayati Raj Minister Samrat Chaudhary, keeping in view of the frequent murders, had introduced speedy trial of such cases followed by conviction within 6 months.

He had also made a provision to provide arms licenses to public representatives in hassle-free manners so that they could protect themselves but such measures did not prevent the killings.

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