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On March 2, 2004, in
the morning, during the visitor’s time, the jail authorities of the special Beur
jail, resorted to a brutal lathi-charge on the prisoners who were objecting to
the money being extorted from the visitors by the jail authorities. In this
lathi-charge, the jail authorities took the assistance of the Bihar Military
Police from outside. They specifically targeted leaders of the Bandhi Sangharsh
Manch (Prisoner’s Struggle Front), seriously injuring PW leader Ravi Kumar (also
the president of the BSM) and PW Central Committee member, Arvind Kumar. About
three dozen prisoners were seriously injured, most of whom were affiliated to
the PW, MCCI and the CPN(Maoist). Some of those injured from the CPN(Maoist)
included Devnath Prasad Yadav, Roshan Kumar Yadav, Vinod Thapa, etc. Many had
their hands and legs fractured and their skulls broken.
The unprovoked action
was the result of the continuous struggle of the BSM against the horrible prison
conditions and corruption of the prison authorities. The struggle was only
called off after the prison minister, Basavan Bhagat, visited the jail and gave
assurances to implement the demands of the prisoners, and a few reforms were
also introduced. It is this that enraged the prison authorities who then
conspired the March 2 action with a view of taking revenge. That is why the
Maoist leaders of the BSM were specifically targeted.
Since then, not only
have the injured been denied medical treatment, they have been isolated by being
transferred to separate wards. They have also been denied the meetings of
visitors. In protest against the lathi charge there have since been daily
dharnas inside the jail at the Buddha statue. On the 3rd, 300 participated and
on the 4th this swelled to 450. These dharnas were held under the banner of the
BSM and addressed by comrades Arvind, Ravi and others. The dharnas continued
from 8 am. to 12 noon. They specifically demanded action on the chief jailor,
Pradeep Kumar Jha and the jailors involved in the brutalities. They also
demanded proper medical treatment and reiterated their earlier demands. They
vowed to continue the dharnas until their demands were met. On the 4th, when
P.K.Jha came for inspection he was gheraoed by PW supporters, shouting slogans.
It was only after a long period the he could sneak away.
Meanwhile the jail
struggle has spread outside, on to the streets of Patna. On March 5th over 500
people gathered at Jackson Chowk taking out a rally to the district
headquarters. The rally was organized by the AIPRF, SFPR and the student
organization, DSU. The struggle continues, both inside and outside the jail.
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