Using the Naxalite Bogey Arun Srivastava FOLLOWING the steps initiated by the Harijan cell of the Home Department, the Bihar government issued orders to the District Magistrates and the Superintendent of Police that they would be fully responsible for checking atrocities on harijans, adivasis, and people belonging to the weaker sections of society. In case of even minor slackness, strict action was to be taken against the concerned officers. The government also issued instructions that, where atrocities are committed by landowners and people of the richer sections of society on harijans, adivasis and people belonging to the weaker sections, or where there is my dispute over land and likelihood of use of fire-arms against the latter, the firearms of the landowners and rich oeo- ple should be confiscated. Yet, in the Pipara massacre itself, even the preparing of the FIR and the framing of the charge-sheet took nearly 15 days, And this span of time was enough for the sharks to disappear into the deep.
