Bharat Bandh: Over a dozen injured in Bihar clash

Date:

April 10, 2018

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Patna, April 10 (IANS) Over a dozen of people were injured on Tuesday in a violent clash in Bihar during the “Bharat Bandh” called by various groups to protest against reservation policies, police said.

Supporters, mostly upper castes youths, blocked roads and forcibly enforced the nationwide shutdown in Ara town, Bhojpur district.

“More than a dozen people were injured in the violent clash between supporters of the Bharat Bandh and a pro-reservation group comprising OBCs and Dalits,” a district police official said.

Additional security have been deployed in Ara.

According to reports reaching here, hundreds of youths opposing reservation to SC/ST and OBCs and supporting Bharat Bandh, have blocked roads at several places, halted trains and forcibly closed markets in Patna, Begusarai, Lakhisarai, Muzafffarpur, Bhojpur, Sheikhpura and Darbhanga districts.

The clash comes a day after the Union Home Ministry issued an advisory to all states to take precautionary measures in view of calls on social media for the “Bharat Bandh” by various anti-reservation groups to protest clashes during the April 2 SC/ST shutdown.

The Bharat Bandh on April 2 by Dalit groups against the alleged dilution of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by a Supreme Court order had led to violence and arson in many parts of the country which claimed several lives and left hundreds of civilians and policemen injured.

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Let’s solve human problems first: SC on Rohingyas (18:24) New Delhi, April 9 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Monday directed the central government to file a comprehensive report detailing the facilities being provided to Rohingya refugees staying at two camps in Haryana, saying “let us try to solve human problems first”. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said the report should be based on data about basic facilities like water, hygiene, toilets and medical facilities being provided to the Rohingyas in Mewat and Faridabad camps. The court order came as the Central government said it could not offer Rohingya refugees more basic facilities than what it was providing its own people including those living in slums. The next hearing will take place on May 9 when the report will be considered. Facing a mounting attack by the petitioner representing refugees on the denial of basic facilities, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta raised questions on the spate of petitions filed on behalf of Rohingyas — a point he had made during the last hearing. The government on March 19 questioned the credentials of the petitioners seeking to block deportation of Rohingya refugees, saying the genesis of the PILs threaten to change the country’s demography and destabilise it. The petitioners on Monday said a court commissioner be sent to inquire into the conditions in the camps while senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan urged the court to ask the National Human Rights Commission — which he described as the custodian of human rights, civil liberty and socio-economic charter — to submit a report on the condition of refugees in Rohingya camps. Both the suggestions were resisted by the government with Mehta offering to file the report. The petitioners said the basic facilities that a human being should get under the Constitution’s Article 21 were being denied to Rohingya refugees. Telling the court that Rohingyas were living in pathetic conditions, Dhavan said Rohingya refugees were a “separate class of people who have nowhere to go. They have no means to support themselves. This is a peculiar situation which is not there in any slums…”. Making a common cause with the Central government, senior counsel Mahesh Jethmalani said he supported the position taken by the Centre and there could be no “privilege enclave” for Rohingya refugees. Jethmalani appeared for one of those supporting the government’s stand on Rohingya refugees. Defending the “push back” policy to prevent the Rohingya refugees from crossing the border into India, he said accommodating Rohingyas who have already entered was itself a difficult task. He said “we can’t throw open our border and allow Rohingyas to come” as he taunted the “public spirited” petitioners to also see what happening the next door.

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