Raju Baitha

Dalit HRD

Bihar

HRDA has issued an urgent appeal to the National Human Rights Commission of India on July 20, 2020 regarding the judicial harassment and caste-based atrocity on Mr. Raju Baitha on the directions of Superintendent of Police (SP) of Motihari, East Champaran. Mr. Baitha is a Right to Information (RTI) activist, and the district coordinator of National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR).

On the evening of May 26, 2020, Mr. Mukesh Chand Kumar, Station House Officer (SHO) of Chhitouni police station along with four constables arrested Mr. Baitha from his house without any warrant. They seized his two mobile phones and Rs 25,000 without a seizure memo. The FIR registered against him on January 29, 2020 by the Motihari police was under Sections 143, 188, 353, 149, 342, 506, 427, 341 of the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act. He was accused of damaging public property and blocking roads during a protest on January 29, 2020 under the banner of Bahujan Kranti Morcha against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Mr. Baitha was victimised and harassed by the police for his Facebook post on the casteist and discriminatory approach of Motihari SP Mr. Naveen Chandra Jha in punishing policemen for the same offence differently based on their caste. Mr. Jha called Mr. Baitha after he uploaded the post, and threatened to arrest him within four days.

Though Mr. Baitha was granted bail on May 28, 2020, he was re-arrested before his release in connection with two more cases filed by two persons for damaging their shops during the January 29 protest. Mr. Baitha was released on bail on June 15, 2020.