Further at least two officers among the 15 who have been suspended on the chief minister's orders last fortnight, have been given "gallantry" awards for their recent efforts.The police has its own explanation for the present situation. Even before this furore has died from public debate there has been another mob action today emulating the infamous Bhagalpur blindings epitomised by the movie Gangajal.
A frenzied crowd cheering policemen took me to a local police station where my eyes were punctured with a bicycle spoke and Gangajal (acid) was injected into my eyes, leaving me blind for life," he alleged. Umesh Yadav, 28, from Mahayaganj, for example, says he was blinded by the police on February 16 this year. The Bhagalpur blindings refers to a series of incidents in 1979 and 1980 in Bhagalpur in the state of Bihar, India when police blinded 31 individuals under trial by pouring acid into their eyes. At least, I am not behind coining the term 'Operation Gangajal'." Ironically, when the story of the blindings first broke in the national press, the local press in the district blissfully ignored the story.In fact, the state Government seems determined to hammer home the idea that even if the blindings were conducted by the police, they had widespread public sanction. The act of blinding 31 - and possibly more - alleged criminals by piercing their eyes with spokes and pouring sulphuric acid into them, increases their own chances of survival. "It appears to have the support of the people of Bhagalpur," Mishra told India Today.Still, there was precious little evidence of government intervention in Bhagalpur last fortnight where policemen went on mass casual leave for one day, openly sporting protest black bands on their sleeves, and sought to contact voluntary organisations to speak out on their behalf.And, in Delhi, Minister of State for Supply and Rehabilitation, Bhagwat Jha Azad, himself a Bihari, told India Today: "I want the media to ponder over why the intellectuals of Bhagalpur-teachers, lawyers and doctors - and political leaders of every party are opposing the suspension of police officials without a proven case against them. Thirty-three suspected criminals were blinded by the police in the infamous 'Operation Gangajal'.
Sources said the BJP has reportedly assured Ram that he would be fielded from Kanke Assembly segment during the next election. The incident became infamous as the Bhagalpur blindings. Thirty-three suspected criminals were blinded by the police in the infamous 'Operation Gangajal'. Even so, Chief Minister Mishra entrusted the state's enquiry to Pathak once the issue was blown open.The most damaging allegation is that the entire government machinery was pressurised by Sadanand Singh to suppress the facts, and it was only when the police refused to give in did Sudama Mandal surrender - rather than be snatched from his hideout and lose his eyes.Whatever the truth, Bhagalpur represents one of the darkest chapters in the country's history. I was always considered an upright police officer."
Retired Jharkhand DGP Vishnu Dayal Ram, who was superintendent of police during the infamous Bhagalpur blinding case of 1980-81, joined the BJP in Ranchi on Saturday. The scene of Baljit's blinding was Rajaun police station where eight other alleged criminals lost their eyes to bicycle spokes and acid on October 6, The police version, ingeniously supported by the munshi of the Baljit's lawyer, Gopi Krishna Prasad, counters that the police arrested nine persons from a truck on the night of October 6.
A. K. Singh, officer in charge of Mojahidpur police station which has jurisdiction over Mahayaganj, shuffles his case papers as he accuses the newspapers of giving a "one-sided version of the whole episode." He pointed out that the atrocities at the lower levels of the police hierarchy are getting worse because of "certain pulls".
"Then, the inspector general of prisons, who visited Banka jail in the first week of September, got first hand information about the blindings and immediately reported it to Home Commissioner Arun Pathak - who, as it happened, had once served as commissioner in Bhagalpur. Asked about the "Gangajal-man" tag that has stuck to him for years, he said: "I do not need to react. 1980 Bhagalpur blindings Last updated February 16, 2020. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the acts of blinding were committed with such flagrant regularity and without any public outcry being raised.It was only when a local lawyer moved a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court on October 10 on behalf of 11 victims of the blinding campaign, that the scandal raised its ugly head in public and led the media onto the scent.It is now established in a police report that the blinding campaign was launched last year after the brother of Kaushaliya Devi, a Janata minister of state, was hacked to death by the Sudama Mandal gang.
Ram, however, told The Indian Express: "I had joined as Bhagalpur SP when 12 blinding cases had already been reported. That was left toLate last fortnight, the paper's Executive Editor Arun Shourie, who has coordinated some of the The episode has also seen the national-press and Patna's dailies in an unprecedented slanging match.