145;Heroes146; FLEE

A week after 10 Kureri youths were lynched, the Yadavs in Rajapakar village fear for their safety

Last Thursday, Rajapakar brimmed with a raw, chilling zeal. Men and boys in this village in Vaishali district animatedly narrated tales of valour 8212; how they caught hold of the thieves, thrashed them and cut them to pieces.

Exactly a week after a mob lynched 10 8216;thieves8217;, the 8216;heroes8217; have fled. The cluster of shops at Dhelphorwa chowk, where the Kureri youths were lynched, are under locks and the streets deserted. Knock on any door and it is the women who answer: 8220;Koi nahi hai.8221;

8220;Over 200 men from houses around the spot where the thieves were killed have fled. The police have lodged FIRs against 300 unknown villagers and everyone8217;s scared,8221; said Manjay Lal, a local political activist, who quickly pointed out that he was in Bangalore on the day of the lynching. No one8217;s ready to talk out of fear that sleuths of the CID may arrest them anytime.

Rajapakar is one of the biggest villages in the region and is dominated by the politically empowered Yadavs. Most of them are agriculturists and own a fair share of land. Apart from the traditional yields, cash crops like vegetables are grown in huge quantities .

In the caste-ridden political environment of the state, the Yadavs fear their caste will put them at risk. They fear that the state government, headed by a rival OBC, will not spare them. 8220;Why is the Nitish Kumar government suddenly saying that those killed were not thieves? There seems to be some design to get us. We are probably being targeted because we are Yadavs,8221; said Nanhak Rai, a village elder. Rai says that when the villagers caught the Kureri men with cash and jewellery, the 8216;thieves8217; confessed that they had broken into a few homes. 8220;The Kureri men stay in Sarai, over 10 km from here. What were they doing in Rajapakar that night,8221; Rai asked.

A few kilometres away from the village chowk, villagers were more forthcoming. But there was little sympathy for the Kureri men. 8220;Not only Rajapakar but people in nearby villages had had enough of these thieves. The local police did nothing; instead asked us to conduct night vigils as they did not have enough men to provide security,8221; said Rambalak Singh, a villager.

The police, however, dismissed these allegations. 8220;In the last three months, only two robbery complaints were lodged,8221; said Rajapakar police station SI Neyaz Ahmad. To this, the villagers claimed that theft cases were not reported because the police refuse to register FIRs and even demanded bribe. 8220;My cow was stolen and found later. I had to pay Rs 1,000 to the officer-in-charge to get my cow released from the police station,8221; claimed Jagan Singh.

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8220;For a long time now, we can sleep in peace without worrying of robberies,8221; said Mukund Rai, a villager.

For now, Rajapakar8217;s men have fled, leaving the children and women behind. It will be a while before they can sleep in peace.