Bihar govt finally pays compensation to Munger firing victim’s kin

The Bihar government finally handed over the cheque of ₹10 lakh as compensation to the family of Anurag Poddar (18) who lost his life in the Munger police firing incident during idol immersion on October 26, 2020

The Bihar government finally handed over the cheque of ₹10 lakh as compensation to the family of Anurag Poddar (18) who lost his life in the Munger police firing incident during idol immersion on October 26, 2020.

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Munger district magistrate (DM) Navin Kumar summoned the deceased’s father Amarnath Poddar to his office on Wednesday and handed over the cheque. The DM also handed over a compensation letter to the victim’s father.

Hearing a petition filed by the victim’s father, the Patna High Court on April 7 this year observed that Poddar was not involved in any act of violence and ordered the Bihar government to pay a compensation of ₹10 lakh to the victim’s family.

The state government filed a special leave petition (SLP) with the Supreme Court and challenged the order of Patna HC in the Munger firing incident. On June 4, the SC dismissed the SLP saying, “It is shocking that a young boy was shot.” A Bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and M R Shah observed that the police did not transparently investigate the case as the then Munger SP was a relative of a member of the ruling party.

The Bench said, “We find no ground in interfering with the judgment and order impugned exercise of power under Article 136 of the Constitution of India.”

Following the HC’s order in April, the axe finally fell on 17 police officials, including three inspectors, who were transferred to other districts.

Day after the transfer of 17 policemen, the district SP Manavjeet Singh Dhillon was also shifted to Samastipur. The then DM Rajesh Meena and SP Lipi Singh were transferred from Munger on the directive of the Election Commission as the incident took place two days before the Assembly polls in the constituency.

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