A protest and pledge meeting was held in Badgaon village of Agiaon constituency of Bihar on March 18 to secure justice for Comrade Manoj Manzil and 22 other victims of the politically motivated and false case. The meeting, in which hundreds of people from the constituency condemned the motivated charges against Manoj and other comrades.
Speaking at the meeting, CPIML ex-MP Rameshwar Prasad said that the false murder case filed against Manoj and others is an attempt to stifle the growing assertion of Dalits, poor and toiling masses. He added that the Bhojpur region had been in forefront in the struggle against feudal-caste oppression and for decades under the flag of CPIML the toiling masses of the region fought for their rights and dignity. The struggle ensured that poor and Dalits were able to cast their vote without fear. The feudal and criminals, backed by BJP tried to suppress this wave of change, but failed. Even though BJP backed feudal forces conspired to incarcerate Manoj Manzil and others, the people of Bhojpur are united against these forces of oppression and terror and the masses will foil this conspiracy. The people of Bihar have also understood this conspiracy and in the upcoming election the BJP will be uprooted.
On February, 13, Manoj Manzil, CPIML central committee member and MLA from Agiaon constituency in Bihar, along with 22 other comrades were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in a politically motivated murder case. In the case, 90-year-old Comrade Ramanand Prasad was also sentenced to life imprisonment. The case was filed on the eve of the 2015 Assembly elections and Comrade Manoj had to fight the polls from within jail. He still polled more than 30,000 votes and finished a close third.
CPIML Politburo member and AIPWA leader Meena Tiwari said that people of Bhojpur will give a befitting reply to the conspiracy of BJP backed forces of oppression who killed CPIML leader Satish Yadav and now sent Manoj and others to jail in a fabricated case. This judicial massacre of assertion of dalits and poor in Bhojpur will be resisted by the people.
CPIML Politburo members Swadesh Bhattacharya and Shashi Yadav, comrades Sudama Prasad, Raju Yadav and Kayamuddin Ansari, and AIPWA leader comrade Sheela addressed the meeting said that case against Badgaon-23 is part of a long-standing modus operandi by feudal and right-wing forces of unleashing repression and massacres against the poor and dalits and later implicating those who challenge these regressive forces in fabricated cases in connivance with the police and local administration.
The convention resolved to carry forward the flame of resistance lit by martyr comrades like Satish Yadav and defeat the forces of oppression, communalism and tyranny.
CPIML Condemns Nitish-BJP's New Criminal Laws in Bihar As Draconian
Com. Kunal added that these laws are meant to weaken the process of justice for the common masses. Under these laws, the district magistrate has been given powers to issue warrants, make arrests, detain, power to sanction bail applications and to expel from district or state for up to six months. This is a dangerous game where the whole judicial process has been made subservient to the powers of the DM. This will embolden parties in power and serve their vested interests.
Moreover, the new Bihar government has brought various autonomous bodies Commissions under the administration of bureaucracy which will hamper the independent work of commissions like State Minorities Commission, commission for the prevention of child labour, state Madarsa education board, state Sanskrit education board, Bihar State Women’s Commission etc. The CPIML has also opposed this move of the BJP-JDU government.
On March 1, CPIML MLAs in Bihar held a protest demonstration in the Legislative Assembly and called for the immediate withdrawal of such anti-people and police raj laws. They also condemned the dilution of autonomous bodies.
