‘Come what may, we won’t leave this place’: Their houses torched, Bihar villagers vow to stay put

Police have arrested 15 people, including one Nandu Paswan, in connection with the case, and the Nawada administration said the incident was the “result of a title suit about 16 acres”, filed by Paswan and others against those who had been occupying the land that they claim to have purchased.

However, the immediate reason for Wednesday’s incident remains unclear. Some officials said that the accused may have been trying to drive away the inhabitants of the land in a bid to have it registered in their favour in the midst of the ongoing land survey in Bihar.

There have also been allegations that the land mafia is involved, as the land in question is valuable due to its location close to Nawada town. Police and the district administration said they were looking into all possibilities.

Nawada District Magistrate Ashutosh Kumar Verma said, “The matter is open-ended. We are cross checking land records. The property chain shows how the disputed land was at one point categorised under gair majarua land (government land), and then was also shown as raiyat land (land owned by individuals for cultivation). Since 1995, it has been embroiled in a title suit.”

SP Abhinav Dhan said police were probing all angles.

For Mithilesh Manjhi and others from the village whose houses were set on fire, leaving the village is not an option.

“We have been in possession of this land for over 40 years now. Come what may, we will not leave the place,” said 85-year-old Surju Manjhi.

She said the arson was the result of a land dispute, not a caste dispute. “It has never been a case of conflict between Paswans and Manjhi/ Ravidas. Since the land survey is on, Nandu Paswan and others engaged in the title suit with us torched our houses to terrorise us,” Surju said.

Another resident, Vaishnavi Manjhi, said she had been living there for years and “now the state government also recognises us, and we have voter cards at this address”.

Vaishnavi’s was one of the huts that were torched and she said she expects the government to “raise pucca houses for us”.

All the families displaced in the incident have since been living in a government camp. Besides the government, some voluntary groups have been also providing food to the affected families.

The government is giving compensation of Rs 1 lakh to each of the families whose houses were torched. Of the 34 that were set on fire, 21 houses were fully gutted and 13 were partially damaged. The houses were made of brick, with some having thatched roofs and others roofs made with asbestos.

According to local residents, Manjhi families have been cultivating the land for around 40 years, considering the area to be gair majarua land. However, Nandu Paswan and around a dozen others claim to have bought 16 acres of this land, and in 1995, they filed a title suit in the Munsif court of Nawada against 20 Manjhi and Ravidas families who were occupying the land.

DM Ashutosh Kumar Verma said land records over the years have shown the land as both gair majarua land and raiyat land.

Over the last 12 years, several Manjhi and Ravidas families have raised huts on the disputed Krishna Nagar land.

Subsequently, they have got ration cards, Aadhaar cards and bank passbooks at this address. After the arson, the district administration organised a special camp to provide ration cards to families that did not have one.

Residents said there had not been any violence regarding the issue until August 2023, when some people opened fire in the air with the alleged aim of terrorising people. In Wednesday’s incident also, residents alleged that Nandu Paswan fired in the air before the houses were set on fire.

Resident Umesh Manjhi said they want the government to help dispose of the title suit quickly.

“The government should assist us legally as we do not understand legal matters. Since the land has been under our possession for years, we alone are rightful claimants of the land,” Umesh said.

The issue has led to a political firestorm, with Opposition parties blaming the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government for the violence. Delegations from CPI(ML), LJP(R) and the BSP have visited Krishna Nagar in the last two days. Police have been deployed in the area to provide protection to the residents.