Two people were killed in police firing against people who were protesting power outages in Bihar’s Katihar. The victims have been identified as Khurshid Alam and Sonu Shah, news agency PTI reported.
The police opened fire to disperse the mob that had gathered outside the office of the local electricity department to protest the irregular power supply and exorbitant tariffs in the area.
The police claimed that it fired in self-defence.
The police claimed that the situation escalated when some of the protesters began throwing stones and the police responded by lathi-charging the demonstrators.
“The police should have exercised restraint and should not have opened fire. Accountability must be fixed in the matter and action should be taken against police personnel who might be found guilty,” said The CPI(ML)-L’s legislature party leader Mehboob Alam, who is the MLA of Balrampur.
The CPI(ML)-L is a part of the Mahagathbandhan though not a part of the Bihar government.
Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, a former president of the state BJP, issued a statement alleging that the incident reflected the “barbarism” of the government.
