Munger, immersed in the euphoria of Durga Puja, will wither away before the voting date, hardly anyone could have guessed it.
Police were allegedly shot at unarmed devotees during police immersion near the city's Deen Dayal Chowk in Munger, about 200 km from Bihar's capital Patna, and beaten with sticks.
Many such videos are becoming viral on social media, which are being told about the Munger incident.
In these videos, the policemen are seen waving arms in their hands, the sounds of firing are heard, there is a stampede, the police are seen lathing the people sitting on the statue.
People of the city say that more than one person has died in the police firing. But the collector of Munger district Rajesh Meena has confirmed the death of only one young man from the BBC.
Six other people injured by bullets are hospitalized. Apart from these, around two dozen people have been injured. However, the police and the local administration denied that the firing was done on their behalf.
According to DM Meena "Anti-social elements attacked the police with lathi-sticks during idol immersion. Stones were hurled. The police had to take action in self-defense and to dislodge the mob. Desi cattle and used kiosks were recovered from the scene. Huh."
What happened on the night of idol immersion?
The fair which takes place on the day of immersion of the Durga statue in Munger is very popular in the area. During this time, not only the city but the surrounding villages and towns also come in large numbers.
Violence took place between Deen Dayal Chowk in the city to Azad Chowk at the time when statues from across the city were being taken to the banks of the river to be immersed.
Sanjay Kumar, who lives near Azad Chowk, claims that he was present at the time of the violence.
He says, "Everything was going well. The procession and other events that took place on the day of immersion were already banned. This time the fair was not even held. There was deployment of police forces all over the city."
Sanjay says, "Statues of many places had already been brought here and everyone was waiting for the big Durga statue of Shadipur. The tradition is that till the big Durga statue is raised, the remaining statues are not immersed either. 32 Kahar Together, we raise the statue of Durga.
According to Sanjay, the dispute with the police started here. They say that the policemen said that the statue should be immersed soon, while the devotees demanded that immersion be done with tradition.
Who fired and why?
In conversation with the local people, it was found that tension with the police regarding the immersion time was going on since the first day of Navratri.
Firstly, many types of restrictions were already in place due to the Coronavirus. Secondly, due to the voting in Munger in the first phase itself, the local administration had given the order for the immersion of the statue on the day of Navami i.e. October 25.
However, later representatives of the worship committees negotiated with the administration and fixed the time for October 26.
Sangeeta Devi, a woman living near Deen Dayal Chowk, says, "Everything was being done at the behest of the administration and under his supervision. If there was an immersion as per tradition, what would the police do? If you were someone They will get the idol of Aaradhya Devi installed with a JCB machine, people will protest if they take them to the garbage carrying vehicles of the Municipal Corporation. "
Sangeeta said, "People were beaten in front of my eyes. While they had no fault, they were sitting near the statue. We got scared when several rounds of firing came and we closed our windows doors."
Keshav Kumar of Badi Durga Puja Committee says, "You should ask the police why the police fired. If the crowd was to disperse, there was an alternative to tear gas shells and water splashes."
"The police were blaming us on the upside that we fired. Why were we going to take a gun with the bullet in the immersion earlier? And the video footage we have clearly shows that the policemen are waving weapons Were."
In that day's clash, one hand of Keshav is broken.
Says Keshav, "The police have shown that indigenous kattas and kiosks have been found from the spot, but why does it not reveal whose bullet was in the head of our boy Anurag?"
Father who lost his son
The young man who died in a violent clash with the police is named Anurag Poddar.
Anurag was a student of 12th standard and was the only brother of four sisters. There was an atmosphere of mourning at Anurag's house. There were voices of women crying and shouting from inside.
We talked to Anurag's father Amarnath Poddar. He says, "If the election does not happen then this incident does not happen. If the election does not take place then my son would not have lost his life."
What happened that night? While answering this question, tears come from his eyes.
He says, "The bullets were moving with glee. There was no count of how many rounds were fired. As soon as the son got the news of the shooting, we immediately reached the spot. He had died before we arrived. So please say that our house was near, so we reached the body immediately. Otherwise, we do not even get the body of our son. "
According to Anurag's father, there are many such families whose children are missing here. No one knows where he is. The police are not even telling.
Election impact
The impact of violence during the immersion of the statue also showed in the polling in Munger. The streets and polling stations where the violence took place had silence.
People were talking about boycotting the vote in protest of the incident. Some people were also saying that this incident has been done under a political intrigue.
Brijbihari Yadav near Deen Dayal Chowk says, "There are more BJP voters in Munger city. That is why the people of BJP feel that this incident has been done by JDU people so that people do not vote against it and the BJP candidate loses. On the other hand, JDU people feel that the BJP people have done this so that the message in the society is that Nitish Kumar is doing so much wrong with his officers. "
Where the statue of elder Durga is installed in Shadipur, the anger of the people is the highest because the people of his locality have been injured the most. The people of Shadipur were talking completely against voting.
DM Rajesh Meena says this only on the allegations being made by the local people and devotees, "We are engaged in conducting voting. At present, the matter is being investigated, the truth will be revealed soon."
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