Three people were arrested in Jharkhand’s Palamu district on Wednesday for allegedly assaulting and evicting 50 Dalit families from a village, police said.
Fifty families of the Mushar community living in Tongri Pahadi in Pandu police station area were allegedly assaulted and driven out of the village on Monday.
Jitendra Mushar, a leader of the community, said their belongings were loaded onto vehicles, which dropped them at a nearby forest.
He alleged that a mob led by village head Israr Ansari drove them out of their homes of over four decades.
Police said they have filed a case against 12 persons and 150 unknown people.
The village head, retired health worker Rasool Ansari and one Mumtaz Ansari were arrested, they said.
Sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Bishrampur Surjit Kumar said prohibitory order has been imposed in the area in view of the prevailing tension.
Palamu’s Deputy Commissioner A Dode said the incident was the outcome of a land dispute, and was in no way communal.
Members of the Muslim community provided documents showing that the land belonged to them, while those evicted do not have any land-related documents, he said.
”Action will be taken against those who took law into their own hands. Three people have been arrested and efforts are on to nab the others,” Dode said.
At present, the evicted families have been accommodated in the old police station building.
A plan is being chalked out to rehabilitate them somewhere under government schemes, the deputy commissioner said.
Food, clothes and other essentials are being provided to the evicted families, and there is a proposal to provide them pension, he said.
A huge contingent of police led by senior officers has been deployed in the village.