Caste Violence

Nearly a thousand people have been killed in caste violence in central and southern Bihar districts in the last three decades, according to conservative estimates.

Nearly a thousand people have been killed in caste violence in central and southern Bihar districts in the last three decades, according to conservative estimates.

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The worst affected districts have been Jehanabad, Aurangabad, Bhojpur, Gaya and even parts of Patna.

Among the biggest of these massacres have been:

the 1997 Lakshmanpur-Bathe massacre in Jehanabad, in which

58 Dalit agricultural labourers

were killed;

the 1987 Dalelchak-Bhagaura massacre in Aurangabad, in which

52 landlords

were killed;

the 2000 Mianpur massacre in Aurangabad, in which Ranvir Sena killed

35 Backward and Dalit labourers

;

the 1999 Senari massacre in Jehanabad, in which MCC cadres killed

35 landlords

;

the 1992 Bara massacre in Gaya, in which middle peasants killed some

34 landlords

;

the 1986 Arwal massacre in Jehanabad, in which police killed

24 alleged naxalites

;

the 1999 Shankarbigha massacre in Jehanabad, in which landlords killed

23 Dalit labourers

; and

the 1996 Bathanitola massacre in Bhojpur, in which landlords killed

22 Dalit and Muslim labourers

.

In 2001, Bihar reported 54 per cent of total murders due to "casteism", according to Central police records.

Upper caste landlords have organised a variety of "senas" - the Ranvir Sena, the Lorik Sena, the Savarna Liberation Front, the Brahmarshi Sena, the Kunwar Sena, the Bhumi Sena, the Sunlight Sena and so on - to carry out these massacres regularly since 1976.

Ranvir Sena's chief Brahmeshwar Singh "Mukhiya" is in jail, charged with committing "hundreds of murders".

Dalits and tribals have responded with India's most dogged, but highly divided, naxal movement. Some studies claim there are 14 different naxal groups. The chief among these are the Communist Party of India (Marxixt-Leninist)'s Liberation group and Party Unity group, and the Maoist Communist Centre.

Of late, some massacres have also been the result of differences between these naxal groups.