Massacre of Arwal

The massacre of Arwal is described by many as a post-independence Jallianwala Bagh, and justly so, in our opinion, say the two judges, while presenting a blow account of the felony committed by the State against the poor and landless in Arwal. The report on Arwal massacre was submitted by the Indian Peoples Human Right Tribunal which came into existence on January 10,1987. Two members of the Tribunal, Justic T.U. Mehta and Justice P.S. Potti inquired into the Arwal incident. The y went to the place of the incident and made on the spot inquires, they heard and recorded evidence from eyewitnesses to the incident and from the persons who had gone there immediately after the killings, including journalists, politicians, lawyers and other public spirited persons. They held sitting in Patna, Delhi and Arwal where they invited the state government and its officials to come to depose before them and to cross examine those who appeared as witnesses before them. The tribunal which began its work in January 1987, formally submitted its report on July30,1987. The report which is now available in print runs into 92 pages, and is a damning indictment of the Bihar Administration whose leaders and minios show up as a gang of criminals, liars, forgers and frauds, who have no respects for any of the decencies and norms of civilized life. In any civilized society where justice prevails and the rule of law is practiced, all of them should have been serving life-terms. But in Bihar , where these dregs of society are in control of the state, they have succeeded in criminalizing the entire state establishment and in letting loose state violence against the poor and the downtrodden with a brazenness that has few parallels in history.

The firing in our opinion in our opinion amounted to brutal murder of 21 valuable citizens of this country governed by the constitution which proudly speaks of protecting the lives of the citizens of the country and aims at establishing an equitable