More than the dacoits active in this region of Bundelkhand, villagers are scared stiff of the police. They consider it is safer to become scarce at the sight of a police jeep, rather than be picked up by the police under Section 216 A of the Indian Penal Code.
Now, Section 216 A for the uninitiated deals with those harbouring dacoits or robbers.
It goes: Whoever, knowing or having reason to believe that any person is about to commit or has recently committed robbery or dacoity, harbours him, with the intention of facilitating the commission of such robbery or dacoity or of screening him from punishment, shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to fine.
There are instances galore of innocent villagers being booked under charges of harbouring dacoits. At a rough count, over the past two years some 400 people to 500 people have been arrested by the police under Section 216, some of whom are languishing in jails.
Some of those detained by police on charges as flimsy as supplying four purees (deep field wheat bread) and packets of beedies to dacoits.
{{/usCountry}}Some of those detained by police on charges as flimsy as supplying four purees (deep field wheat bread) and packets of beedies to dacoits.
{{/usCountry}}Not so long ago when dreaded dacoit Ambika Patel aka Thokia was alive and active, it was his writ that ran. With him gone, his associates have joined the gangs of dacoit gangs of Ragiya, Balkhariya and Sanjay Yadav and are active UP- MP border.
But people are petrified of the police more than they are afraid of dacoits, these days. Such is the frequency with which people are picked up, that most of the villagers in the Bundelkhand region have become aware of the Section 216 A that has made their life difficult.
You have to ask a general question if anyone was picked up under this section, be it any village in the region Naraini, Badausha or Kalinjar town and several hands are raised. Villagers would guide you to the houses of the victim (s).
Rajkumar Shivhare, an oil mill owner of Badausha said the police picked him from his house three months back on the charge of supplying puree to the dacoits. With no criminal record, he was lucky to get reprieve from the court and got released a few days back. "The nightmare for my family has not ended yet as the business has been ruined", he said.
This farmer here, Sant Kumar Patel was arrested four times under the same charge. In the FIR, the policemen alleged that they recovered ten purees and a packet of matches from my possession. I was supposed to be supplying these articles to the dacoits. Patel was released from jail on the direction of the district court. Fed up with the atrocities of the police I have approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) he said and showed the letters that he has shot off to the Governor, Chief Minister and the DGP.
Thirty-year-old Ramkinkar, resident of Kalyanpur village, is mentally challenged and is undergoing treatment at Allahabad. The police picked him up on charge of supplying rations to the dacoits. "The only fault of my son is that he stops the people and asks them if they require any assistance," said his aged father Surendra.
The farmers are in catch twenty-two situations -- whether to work in the field or stay indoors. Police have also arrested farmers guarding their farms.
A schoolteacher Bhola Prasad Patel told Hindustan Times, " Kamta Prasad Katar, a teacher in primary school located in Godibaba village was kidnapped by the dacoits for ransom. Teachers raised Rs 1 lakh and gave the amount to the dacoit for his release. "Instead of taking action against the dacoits, the police lodged FIR against 24 villagers in the kidnapping case", he said.
When this correspondent visited the Naraini and Badousha police station to get the figures of the persons who have been taken into custody under section 216-A IPC, the SHOs of both the police stations refused to speak.
A senior lawyer in Banda district court Ramratan Sharma says over the period of two years the police has slapped Section 216- A IPC on not less than 400 to 500 villagers. While some of them are languishing in jail, several of them were released on the directions of the courts.
On July 14 at 4.30 pm it arrested few villagers in Tindwari town on the charge of supplying food to the members of Gyan Singh gang. At 4.40 pm on the same date the police arrested some villagers at Mataundh, again on the charge of supplying food to Gyan Singh. The difference between both the places is around 40 km. When the court asked the police officers how come Gyan Singh covered this distance within 10 minutes, they remained silent.
When contacted superintendent of police Banda, Ankaj Sharma said, "if the policemen were harassing the villagers on the charges of harboring dacoits they can meet me and I would redress their grievances".