The Election Commission on Thursday ordered the immediate removal of Munger District Magistrate (DM) and Superintendent of Police (SP) over the death of one person and the injuries sustained by several others in an incident of police firing in the town over the immersion of an idol of Goddess Durga on October 26.
The EC has also ordered a probe into the incident by Magadh Divisional Commissioner Asangba Chuba Ao in the next seven days, and asked the State government to appoint a new DM and SP in the district soon.
“The EC has ordered removal of Munger DM Rajesh Meena and SP Lipi Singh over violence and police firing in the town…it has also ordered probe into the incident which is to be completed in next seven days,” said a Bihar Election Commission official Sanjay Kumar Singh.
The order came amidst violent protests by locals against the police firing on October 26, which led to the death of a young man, Anurag Poddar, 22, and left several others injured. The protesters indulged in arson at the office of district officials on Thursday, setting some vehicles on fire.
The Opposition Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have condemned the incident and demanded that the Prime Minister immediately dismiss the Nitish Kumar government.
Sharing a video which has gone viral on social media, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala asked, “Will the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)-JD(U) (Janata Dal-United) government thrash Goddess Durga worshippers like animals?...Will the BJP-JD(U) government kill people for immersing Durga idol?...The Munger police firing has reminded us about General Dyer of the Jallianwala Bagh incident of 1919.”
Mr. Surjewala also said that the BJP-JD(U) government “has no right to stay in power even for a minute”. “Why is Prime Minister Narendra Modi is keeping mum over it?..Where are these Union Ministers like Giriraj Singh, Ravi Shankar Prasad, R.K. Singh and Nityanand Rai?” asked the Congress leader while demanding that the PM must “dismiss” the Nitish Kumar government for “targeting bhakts (devotees) of Maa Durga”.
The Munger SP Lipi Singh, a 2016 batch IPS officer, is the daughter of senior JD(U) leader R.C.P. Singh.
“During Durga Puja immersion, some anti-social elements resorted to stone pelting, which injured 20 policemen, and after this, someone from the crowd fired shots, leading to one death and others injured,” Ms. Singh told mediapersons after the incident.
On October 26, a violent clash took place between police personnel and a group of people going for the immersion of a Goddess Durga idol, which led to police firing in which one person was killed and over two dozen locals were injured.