List of massacres in Bihar

Laxmanpur Bathe massacre was a sanguinary act of the Ranvir Sena, a militia dominated by Bhumihar caste. In the village called Laxmanpur Bathe, nearly 56 Dalits including women and the children were killed. The trial which followed the massacre revealed the implicit involvement of some of the major political parties and the leaders of the Bihar. It was also claimed that the Police force which was deployed there to protect the villagers assisted the Sena members to launch the assault on the Dalits.[3]

Parasbigha and Dohia which were located few kilometres south of Patna were disturbed area since abolition of Zamindari in 1950. The contest for grabbing more and more lands from the erstwhile "Tekari Raj" brought Yadavs and Bhumihars against each other. The Yadavs here sided with Dalits in long and protracted struggle which reached its zenith in 1979 when an attack took place at Parasbigha by the Bhumihars in which 11 people including one Yadav were killed. The Bhumihars attacked in retaliation of the action of Yadav led Dalit naxalites who beheaded a notorious Bhumihar landlord, few days ago. Two days after Parasbigha killings, the Yadavs descended upon the Dohia village in search of Bhumihar perpetrators who diffused soon after the incident of Parasbigha from latter's village. Since the men were not found the Yadavs raped Bhumihar girls, killed an old women and disappeared after looting the village.[4]

In a bloody showdown in Munger district of Bihar on the south bank of Ganges, the Yadavs killed 4 men of the Dhanuk caste (a subcaste of agricultural Kurmi community). In the same year the Dhanuks in vandetta kidnapped fourteen children of the Yadavs from Piparia village and crossed the river to gather fodder. Except three, all the children were murdered and the dead bodies were chopped into pieces so that they could never be identified.[5]

In 1985 in a series of attack and retribution between Rajputs and Yadavs, three subsequent massacres took place in Munger district of Bihar. There was a land dispute between Yadavs and Rajputs. The later had brought Bhinds, a tribal caste for cultivating the disputed land. The Yadavs descended the village on horses and foot and nine people lost their lives in the attack. The raiders also plundered four hundred houses of the inhabiting Rajputs. An infant girl was also killed during the raid.[5]

In a separate event in 1986 at Chhotki Chhechani village, Rajput raiders killed seven Yadavs. Following the event, the Yadav in the Darmian village in the subsequent year killed 11 Rajputs in retribution.[5]

In the Dalelchak-bhagora village of Aurangabad district of Bihar, the dispute over hundreds of acre of land between Yadav and Rajput community was the principal cause of the carnage in which over 50 Rajput were killed by Maoist Communist Centre, which was dominated by Yadavs. The massacre also resulted in the exodus of 40 Rajput families and from the village. Chief Minister Bindeshwari Dubey announced the relief to the victim families in the form of government jobs. Later some of the convicts were given death sentence by the court, while majority of them remained out of reach.[6]

The infamous massacre led to assassination of 23 Dalit people including men and women of the Shankarbigha village. The prime accused of the carnage were the members of Ranvir Sena, a militia of Bhumihar landlords, while the sufferers were Dalits. In 1999 most of the accused were acquitted by a court based in Jahanabad.[7]

In the "Bara massacre" the 37 members of Bhumihar caste were slain by the Maoist Communist Centre. According to the report of India Today, Yadav leaders of Janata Dal were accused of instigating the violence against the Bhumihars after killing of ten Dalits in Barsimha village by "Savarana Liberation Front", an upper-caste organisation. A court later tried the perpetrators. The upper caste retaliated by killing 56 Dalits at Laxmanpur Bathe.[8][9]

In "Bathani Tola", a village located in Bhojpur region of Bihar. The members of Ranvir Sena including people of Bhumihar and Rajput caste killed 21 Dalits. The victims included women, children and infant also. A session court of Ara inflicted capital punishment upon three perpetrators while other were given life imprisonment. The Patna High Court however acquitted all of them citing lack of evidence as the reason.[10]

Afsar massacre was a part of long running caste wars between Bhumihars and the Kurmi-Koeri caste in Nawada and Sheikhpura region of Bihar. Two rival gangs one led by Akhilesh Singh and another one led by Ashok Mahto were active here, which were aligned on the caste lines and drew support from their respective castes. The war claimed 200 lives in all. In this particular incident 12 relatives of Akhilesh Singh, whose wife was an MLA from the region were murdered by the Ashok Mahto gang. The Mahto gang was also responsible for assassination of Rajo Singh, a member of parliament.[11][12][13]

In 1970s, the Belchhi village in Bihar witnessed one of the severest massacre of Bihar's history. The root cause of the massacre was caste conflict between Paswan landless peasants and Kurmi landlords. This massacre parted the way between Kurmis and Paswans and made them sceptical of each other's activities in all spheres of life. Mahavir Mahto, the leader of Bhumi Sena was the main accused of the carnage in which Dusadh people were the victim.[14]

In the Senari village(now in Arwal district of Bihar) the dreaded naxalite organisation MCC killed 34 Bhumihars. The naxalite unit was dominated particularly by Yadav and Paswans. The convicts included Bacchesh Singh, Buddhan Yadav, Butai Yadav, Satendra Das, Lallan Pasi, Dwarika Paswan, Kariban Paswan, Godai Paswan, Uma Paswan and Gopal Paswan, who were later tried by the Session court. The victims were killed using blunt objects with utmost severity.[15]

Bhojpur is a historical region in Bihar most often known for its association with Ujjainiya Rajputs. The region is also known for worst form of landlordism which was the cause of popular movement called "Bhojpur rebellion" led by newly educated backward caste youths namely Jagdish Mahto, Rameswar Ahir, Ramnaresh Ram, Maharaj Mahto who took up arms against the landlord class when mobilised by communists.Between 1971 and 1976 as Santosh Singh estimated a large number of Bhumihar landlords and landlords of other "upper castes" were killed. After Mahto's death the movement faded away bringing long lasting peace in the region.[2][16]

Chhotan Shukla was the brother of former MLA of Vaishali, Munna Shukla. He used to operate a gang in the region which was in tussle with the rival gang of Brij Bihari Prasad, an OBC Bania minister in the cabinet of Lalu Prasad Yadav.Prasad was also known for his muscleman image. In an attack by the Prasad gang, Chhotan was killed along with a large number of his associates. In return Prasad was also assassinated. During Chhotan's funeral procession when Gopalganj District Magistrate, G.Krishnaiah was trying to control the furious mob he was beaten up to death by the participants in the procession which are said to be provoked by Anand Mohan Singh and Munna Shukla for doing so.[17]

In 1989 the ghastly massacre of Muslims in Bhagalpur district of Bihar had its roots originating from the "Ram Mandir movement" at Ayodhya. The trigger to the weeks long communal riots was the incident of Rajpur village, where a procession of Hindus aimed at garnering support for the temple movement was attacked with a Patrol bomb from the local Muslim community. The provocative slogans like "Hindi Hindu Hindustan, Mulla bhago Pakistan"(India is for Hindus, Muslims should go away to Pakistan) & "Jab jab Hindu jaga hai, tab tab katua bhaga hai"(whenever the Hindu has risen, those who are circumcised have run) were shouted by the mob which culminated into the attack finally leading to a long communal strife in which over 1000 people lost their lives.[18]

The riots broke out in whole district when rumours of killings of Hindu boys spread. Some of the most affected areas were Logain and Chandheri village, where Muslims were slaughtered and were thrown in wells and buried in cauliflower field respectively. The N.N Singh Committee set up to enquire into the case blamed Chief Minister Satyendra Narayan Singh and his government for not taking required action to save the lives and property.[19]

• Caste-related violence in India
• 2018 Bihar riots

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• United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations (1991). Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women: Hearing Before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, One Hundred First Congress, Second Session, August 2, 1990, Volume 4. U.S. Government Printing Office.
• Shobha Saxena (1995). Crimes Against Women and Protective Laws. Deep and Deep Publications. ISBN 817100797X.
• Geetanjali Gangoli (2016). Indian Feminisms: Law, Patriarchies and Violence in India. Routledge. ISBN 1317117468.
• Amitabh Roy (2005). The God of Small Things: A Novel of Social Commitment. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. ISBN 8126904097.