annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Bihar
criminals. 10
In the midst of such lawless situation,
human rights violations by Bihar Police
are often ignored. In November 2004, 12year-old
Govinda was handcuffed and tied
with a big rope by the police personnel of
Sri Krishna Puri police station in the heart
of capital Patna. 11
II. Atrocities by security forces
The police in Bihar have been
responsible for gross violations of human
rights from rape and extortion to arbitrary
deprivation of the right to life.
i. Arbitrary deprivation of the right to life
About 57 persons have died in the
custody of the law enforcement personnel
in Bihar by 26 August 2004. In 2003,
NHRC registered 148 custodial deaths in
Bihar with 139 of them in judicial
custody. 12 The NHRC also registered 157
cases of custodial deaths in 2002-2003,
146 cases in 2001-2002, 162 in 2000-2001
and 162 in 1999-2000 in Bihar. 13
On 27 January 2004, several inmates
in the Begusarai Divisional Jail were
injured when the police opened fire to
quell a riot following the death of a
prisoner identified as Shankar Sao. The
protesting inmates alleged that Sao was
beaten to death by the jail officials. The
jail officials, however, claimed that Sao
had committed suicide. 14
On 29 January 2004, a CRPF jawan,
Pramod Mishra shot dead, Sharif Khan, a
passenger of the Guwahati-bound North-
East Express near Simapur station in
Katihar district following a dispute over a
berth. The CRPF constable was arrested
by the Government Railway Police
immediately on arrival of the train at
Katihar railway junction. 15
On 15 June 2004, Shyam Kishore
Sharma of Karni village under the
Dhanarua police station in Patna district
was shot dead by police personnel from
Goraul police station. The police claimed
that the deceased and three others were
trying to escape after knocking down a
cyclist near Bhagwanpur on the Hajipur-
Muzaffarpur road. The police claimed to
have fired when the victims tried to flee
after making an unsuccessful attempt to
crush the policemen. The hospital sources,
however, revealed startling findings: the
deceased had bullet injury in his abdomen,
which is not possible while escaping on a
vehicle. “It’s possible only at a close range
and in a static position,” reportedly stated
a doctor of the hospital. 16
An undertrial prisoner of the Sasaram
district jail, Kanhaiya Chaubey of Asiya
village under Natawar police station of
Rohtas district reportedly died in the
prisoners’ ward of the Sadar Hospital in
Sasaram on the night of 31 August 2004.
Chaubey was brought to the hospital
around 8 pm on 31 August 2004 when he
complained of pain in stomach. Around 9
pm, he was declared dead by the doctors.
The family members of the deceased
alleged that he had been ill for the last one
week and died due to lack of proper
treatment. 17
Gorakh Choudhury, a supporter of
35