The Bihar cabinet today approved the Action Taken Report (ATR) on the findings of Judicial Commission that probed the Madhubani police firing on October 12, 2012 in which two persons were killed and over a dozen injured.
The Judicial Commission headed by Justice (Retired) Uday Sinha had submitted its report to Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on September 30 this year.
Principal Secretary (Cabinet Department) B Pradhan said, the government has okayed the action initiated on the basis of recommendations and indictments in the Commission’s report.
Sources said the ATR includes institution of cases against the indicted.
The firing in Madhubani in north Bihar was preceded by an agitation over the disappearance of a boy Prashant Kumar Jha (17), who was subsequently found along with a girl in New Delhi as the two had eloped without informing their families.
The protests by locals became stronger after police refused to hand over to them a decomposed body, they mistook of Jha, disputing police’s claim that the DNA report said it was of someone else’s.
After the protest turned into a large-scale violence and arson of public properties, the cops fired at the mob in which two persons were killed.
The Judicial Commission had justified the police firing and praised the role of the then Superintendent of Police, Sub-Divisional Officer of Madhubani and the police for showing restraint and patience.
It however, said the administration committed a mistake by not showing the body to Kshama Devi, grandmother of Jha.
The Commission also indicted Jha’s family members, saying they were fully aware that the body was not of Jha but of somebody else.