Shutdown in Ramgarh over Hazaribag lynching

Ramgarh: Shops were closed and public transport affected in the 12-hour shutdown in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh district on Sunday called by various Hindutva groups over the alleged lynching of a 17-year-old boy in Hazaribag last week, police said.

Hundreds of activists of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal and Hindu Raksha Dal took to the streets, demanding justice for the victim.

VHP’s state joint secretary Manoj Poddar said the people of Ramgarh wholeheartedly supported the bandh to protest against the killing that happened in Barhi subdivision during the immersion of Sarswati idols on February 6.

Ramgarh’s Sub-divisional Police Officer Kishore Kumar Rajak said the shutdown was illegal and it paralysed vehicular movement.

In Hazaribag’s Barhi, people belonging to two different communities blocked the busy National Highway-2, violating the prohibitory orders imposed following the incident.

While one group demanded speedy justice for the victim, the other group alleged innocent people were being falsely implicated in the killing, which was a result of personal enmity.

One of the groups blocked the highway that connects Kolkata to Delhi at Dulmaha, the other group set up a blockade at Naitand, police said.

Cases will be lodged against both the groups for violating the prohibitory orders when an investigation is underway, Hazaribag’s Superintendent of Police Manoj Ratan Chothe said.

We have taken serious note of the road blockades as, despite restoration of normalcy, some people are trying to create tension, he said.

The cases will be registered against people named by the magistrates deployed in the violence-hit areas of Dulmaha and Naitand, he added.

An SIT has been formed and police will soon yield desirable results, the officer said.

The leader of BJP Legislative Party in Jharkhand assembly Babulal Marandi visited the residence of the victim and condemned the incident.

Marandi told reporters that incidents of lynching in Barhi, Simdega and other places in Jharkhand prove that there is no law and order in the state.

Hazaribag BJP MP Jayant Sinha also visited the bereaved family and sought the intervention of the Union Home Ministry in the case.