A close aide of the Bihar Assembly Speaker was put on public “trial” by the Maoists at a “kangaroo court” and badly beaten up for allegedly keeping local villagers’ land under illegal occupation and demolishing one villager’s house. The Maoists then threatened the Speaker, asking him not to visit his constituency.
An armed squad of the Maoists first abducted Lakhan Lal Verma, aide of Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary, from his home in Gaya district on Thursday morning and beat him up in front of hundreds of villagers in a “janta adalat” (people’s court) held in a nearby jungle on Friday. Mr Verma, who suffered fractures in both his legs, was released on Friday evening after he promised to return the land he illegally occupies to their rightful owners and to repair one villager’s damaged house, said sources. Although the Maoists had invited local journalist to witness the kangaroo court, they had already beaten up Verma after passing their judgment before the journalists reached the spot and found Mr Verma lying on the ground with swollen legs and unable to stand up. Mr Verma’s family did not lodge a police complaint fearing reprisal from the Maoists, said the police.
Sources said one Maoist leader named Prashant Kumar heard the allegations against Mr Verma, which also included his “remaining intimately linked to the corrupt Speaker” and indulging in politics. All this happened when the Speaker was present in his constituency, Imamganj in Gaya district, a few km from the site of the “kangaroo court”.
The Maoists passed strictures against Mr Chaudhary, an MLA of Bihar’s ruling JD(U), holding him responsible for the rise in the poverty in his constituency during his 15 years in politics and asking him not to visit his constituency any more. The left-wing rebels also reportedly asked Mr Chaudhary to stop distributing money for Indira Awas Yojna.