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The notorious special task force of the Bihar police arrested
Com. Arvind (Dev Kumar Singh), in-charge of the Bihar state unit of the CPI (ML)
Peoples War. On the night of 11th June from the rented house of his brother Mr.
Umesh Singh. At the time of his arrest he was seriously ill and was undergoing
treatment. His brother too was taken into custody. Within a few hours media
personnel were alerted about this and they stormed the office of the DGP to
enquire about the arrest. Under pressure of the media the police had to admit
that they indeed arrested Com. Dev Kumar Singh. The newspapers flashed this news
prominently the next day. This made it impossible for the police to carry out
any of its ill intentions like doing away with him in the name of an encounter
or make him undergo the notorious third degree treatment. They however did not
produce him in the court within the stipulated 24 hours and mentally tortured
him for 40 hours before producing him in the court.
The news of the arrest of Com. Arvind struck a serious blow
to the revolutionary masses of Bihar-Jharkhand. They were dumb struck, for Com.
Arvind was instrumental in building up the movement since its very inception in
1980, and was a popular leader who developed from the grass roots level. His
arrest is a serious set back for the party and the movement. Various
organizations issued press statements and demanded that he be accorded political
prisoner status and that the necessary arrangements be made for his medical
treatment. They announced to take out torchlight processions throughout the
state on 13th June and a protest march on 14th June in Patna. Responding to this
call torch light processions were taken out in Patna city as well as in the
villages of Punpun, Naubathpur and Masaurhi blocks of Patna district and of
Jahanabad and Gaya districts. On 14th June a rally of 700 people was taken out
from Gandhi Maidan to Patna Junction with the above demands. Daman Virodhi
Morcha (Front Against Repression) called for a state level protest march on 18th
June in Patna. It took out a pamphlet in which it was made clear that the arrest
of Com. Arvind is part of the overall repression launched throughout the country
to make the revolutionary movement leaderless. It also condemned the attempts in
the media to portray Com. Arvind as a dreaded terrorist and reiterated that he
is a very popular revolutionary leader and the real murderers are people like
Narendra Modi and Advani who are in power even after engineering the massacre of
thousands in Gujarat and other places. It also contested the claims of the
police that this will be the end of revolutionary movement in Bihar and
announced that though this arrest is definitely a big loss, the revolutionary
movement will overcome this loss and called on the people to march in a big way
to Patna on 18th June.
On 18th June, about 2500 people participated in the protest
march. The people jammed the Dak Bungalow cross roads after taking out the rally
from Gandhi maidan to the Patna junction. They were demanding the release of
Com. Arvind. The Police asked the demonstrators to send some delegates to the
Chief Minister. But the demonstrators insisted that the representatives of the
government come to the spot. This, one of the busiest cross roads in Patna, was
blocked for about three hours. At about 5‘o clock the Special Task Force police
swooped on the demonstrators and picked up the leading people and took them
away. Nine people were thus arrested. Among them three were the activists of
MKSP, one of AIPRF, one of SFPR, one of AILRC and one general activist. All the
arrested people were immediately taken to Jehanabad; and Amitabh of the AILRC,
Sachin of the DSU, and the three MKSP activists were intensely interrogated in a
CRPF camp. The MKSP activists were also tortured physically and were sent to
jail the next day. The rest of them were let off. The police picked up
Sachidanand Prabhat, State committee member of AIPRF from its Patna office and
sent him to jail on trumped up charges.
Meanwhile the Forum Against Repression gave a call to observe
protest day on 19th June and Chakka Jam (Road and Rail Roko) on 21st. An effigy
of the state government was burnt on 19th at the G.P.O. crossroads in Patna. On
21st June hundreds of people came out onto the streets to block traffic and
trains. This was especially successful in Patna, Arwal, Jahanabad and Gaya
districts. Again in Jharkhand masses participated in big numbers in blocking
trains to protest Com. Arvind’a arrest. On 5th July hundreds of people came out
to stop trains at different places in Latehar and Palamu districts demanding the
release of Com. Arvind. Such was the large-scale of protest against the arrest
of a revolutionary leader. However at present Com. Arvind is preparing to
continue the struggle from the confines of Beur jail.
July 16, 2003.
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