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Caste violence in Bihar village ahead of polls

     Dahnpura Village (Bihar): At least five persons were injured and some cattle burnt alive in an incident of caste violence in poll-bound Bihar, late on Saturday. The incident took place in Dahnpura village in Arrah district in Bihar. The state goes to polls in four phases beginning October 18 to elect a fresh legislature after the February polls remained inconclusive. Dalit villagers said that members of a particular community were asking them to cast their vote on the lantern symbol (RJD), refusal of which led to the burning of their houses. "They were asking us to vote on the lantern symbol (belonging to the RJD), which we refused. Then they started abusing us and threatened to burn our house. They set fire to our houses in the morning in which our cattle were burnt and all our property including some money set aside for a wedding was destroyed," said Devanti Devi, a villager.

     Police have, however, said they would take strong action against the culprits irrespective of their political affiliations. "I have requested the Superintendent of Police to look into the matter as he is near the village. We will not spare anyone even if they belong to any political party. We shall take strong action and also compensate these people who belong to the scheduled caste," said Ashish Ranjan Sinha, Director-General of Police, Bihar. Bihar will vote in four phases from October 18 spread over one month. The second and third phases will be on October 26 and November 13. The fourth and last phase of the elections will be on November 19 and counting of votes will begin on November 22. The main fight is expected between the National Democratic Alliance led by the Janata Dal (United) partnering with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the UPA consisting of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist). Neither formation could gain a clear majority in the last elections to the 243 member legislative assembly.