He asked for flood relief, had acid poured into his eyes

J P Yadav

Posted online: Saturday, August 25, 2007 at 0000 hrs

Victim from Bihar village says mukhiya and his men to blame; they allege that he pointed a pistol at them

DARBHANGA, AUGUST 24: A Villager who demanded food grain in flood relief from the local mukhiya pati was allegedly beaten up and had acid poured into his eyes.

His eyes bandaged, 29-year-old Shiv Kumar Sahni lies in his bed at the Darbhanga Medical College & Hospital. A landless sharecropper from the flood-ravaged Tomaria village in Madhubani district, he runs a small tea shop with his father, and has a wife and two daughters.

Last Tuesday, Shiv Kumar had walked up to the house of Kapeshwar Mukhia — who operates as panchayat head in proxy for his wife Rajkumari Devi — and demanded his share of food grain announced by the government in flood relief.

The enraged mukhiya pati (as husbands of mukhiyas running the show on behalf of wives are known) and his men first beat him and then poured acid in his eyes and mouth.

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