Residents of Saptari are terrified by the Indian police attack. After the incident, there is an atmosphere of fear in the village, the locals are demanding justice.
What you should know
The people of Dhobiahi and Kochabkhari in Chinnamasta Rural Municipality of Saptari became panicked after the Indian police came to the slums night after night and started arresting them. When the police came to the slums with weapons looking for criminals and started arresting the common people, they became frightened.
Last Thursday night, the Indian police reached Chinnamasta Rural Municipality-3 Dhobiahi and Ward No. 6 Kochabkhari and beat and arrested the locals. India came to the Nepali settlement with weapons in two Scorpios and four motorcycles in search of the fugitive accused of the murder incident in the Korean border of Bihar.
They entered through the Newar border and reached Dhobiahi village in Sakhda and arrested 22-year-old Ranjit Sada and 24-year-old Manoj Mandal on Thursday evening. The police, who came back to the slum with one person who had brought them with their mouths tied to identify the culprit, reached Kochabkhari and beat up Nirmala Devi Sada (Koriyapatti Maiti) and made her sit in a Scorpio. 21 years old Shankarkumar Sada and Balkumar Sada of Sada tol, 200 meters to the north, went to the house and beat up the women and children as well, the locals alleged.
Ranjit Sada and Manoj Mandal who were beaten by the Indian police.
"They tell me that people are hiding, but I don't know anything. When I was telling them, they beat me and made me sit in the Scorpio," said Nirmala Devi. When I started saying show, people started crowding, some even resisted. That's when I managed to escape from there.
Police station Sakhada constable Suresh Mehta along with two people who were helping the beating Indian police complained local Laldev Sada. "Our police did not even try to stop us when the plain-clothes Indian police were abusing us, we could not sleep at night because of fear," he added, "they might come and beat us again at any time, that's why we did not want to speak." Ranjit and Manoj, who were detained, were released on Friday morning saying that they were innocent, but both of them were severely beaten.
Vidyanand Chowdhury, chairman of the rural municipality, asked the police/administration to be serious, saying that the Indian side was doing things to frighten the locals. "Locals should not be terrorized in the name of catching criminals, Indians should follow the law," he said, "our police/administration should be serious."
Chief District Officer Bhola Dahal said that he was not aware of the beatings by the Indian police after entering Nepal. "When they come, they should come in coordination, the police should be informed that this has happened," he said, "More understanding is being done."
