M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, Oct 11: The Monday clash between the Tana Bhagats and the Latehar police was not avoidable, said sources. It was just that it took longer hours to erupt and in these hours there were serious attempts to defuse the crisis but it deepened.
Sources said that a situation developed between the administration and the Tana Bhagats that none could stop themselves and all hell broke loose in Latehar on Monday. One wonders how a strong mob of Tana Bhagats assembled at the civil court and no serious effort was made to stop it.
A source close to the police said there was definitely a lack of estimation of the situation as past episodes related to the Tana Bhagats indicate men and women wearing spotless white clothes assemble and then disperse but what the administration overlooked was that recently the Tana Bhagats had laid a siege to the Latehar collectorate and at Mahuadanr where they locked the main gate of the official residence of Mahuadanr SDPO Rajesh Kujur.
Latehar administration, both civil and police, explored many avenues of dialogue and peace, but the Tana Bhagats rejected every move following a trust deficit, said sources.
Sources said this is the first instance of its kind when the Tana Bhagats made a bid to gatecrash the judiciary. They ghaeroed the civil court, unprecedented all over the country. They broke open the main gate that leads to the court of the Latehar principal district and sessions judge.
Amit Kumar Gupta, inspector cum officer in charge of the Latehar police station, said the brazenness of these people came to the fore when they raised their demand for the Latehar principal district and sessions judge to appear before them.
Gupta said that such a demand of the Tana Bhagats was just unthinkable. They prepared the ground for a clash with the administration. Some among the Tana Bhagats pulled the hair of a lady police officer, Sunita Kumari, and SDPO SK Mishra was pushed, said Amit Kumar Gupta.
30 Tana Bhagats have been booked. Five are women among them. Police have invoked sections of the IPC and solo section of The Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act 1984.
Tana Bhagats are known for patience and peace but on Monday both were missing. There was belligerence and discontent more with the system. The Tana Bhagats have been spearheading a crusade for their 5th schedule.
A senior adivasi police officer in Jharkhand refusing to be identified said there is definitely 5th schedule but it is understood the most wrong way in present global scenario by the Tana Bhagats.
