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'He inserted a sickle in my eyes'

Soroor Ahmed in Patna

"My world lies shattered. Two of my three sons have been blinded. My brother Mritunjay (whose eyes were also gouged out) died of his injuries minutes later. He left behind four daughters and a son. There is no reason to suspect their innocence," Balmiki Chaudhary told rediff.com at the Patna medical college hospital.

College-going Manoj and Mani Kant Chaudhary were blinded not because they had committed a crime, but apparently because the rapists suspected they had witnessed the rape and murder of a woman. Their uncle Mritunjay Chaudhary, who was also blinded, died soon after.

Son of a school teacher Balmiki Chaudhary, the brothers hail from the toddy-seller Pasi caste; their tormentors are upper caste Bhumihars.

The brothers were watering their farm and spraying fertiliser when they were attacked by a mob led by a man named Umesh Singh.

"We were beaten up. Some people shouted, 'Cut them into pieces and throw them in a well.' An older man intervened: 'No, no. Make an example of them so that no one commits such a crime again.' Upon this Umesh Singh inserted a sickle in my eyes," said Mani Kant, the younger of the blinded duo. He is a student at the Jaganath Jain College, Tilaiya.

"When my uncle and elder brother were attacked I rushed to save them. I can recognise the attackers once I get back my sight," he said. Mani Kant does most of the talking, as Manoj, his elder brother, stammers.

While their mother is inconsolable, their father see a ray of hope. "The doctors said the retina is intact," he told rediff.com "Could you ask Lalooji to arrange for at least one cornea each for my sons," he asks, alleging that the assailants were supporters of the ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal.

What remains a mystery is the gangrape and murder of a 37-year-old woman, mother of seven children, in Sighna village. She was cutting grass when some inebriated youth pounced on her in broad daylight. After raping her, they ripped open her abdomen, leading to her death.

Eyewitnesses ask what prompted the Bhumihars to take revenge for the rape of a Yadav woman. If the Chaudhary brothers and their uncle were the culprits, the woman's family should have taken revenge, not the Bhumihars of Sighna.

Some Bhumihars, it is alleged, committed the crime and tried to shift the blame onto the Chaudharys, farmers in the neighbouring Patori-Mansagar village.

In their defence, the Chaudhary brothers said had they been the rapists they would have fled their village and sought sanctuary elsewhere. Some observers say the rapists suspected that the Chaudhary brothers and their uncle witnessed the rape and murder, hence the attack on the trio. However, Manoj denies that they witnessed the crime.

The Bhumihar-dominated Sighna and Patori-Mansagar (where Yadavs, Harijans and Muslims live) are two kilometres apart.

Balmiki Chaudhary has a word of praise for the local police. "I was teaching at school in Nawada town (24 km away) when the incident occurred. The officer in charge of the thana (police station) rushed the boys to hospital in a police vehicle."

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