Nanhelal Paswan:
Nanhe Lal Mochi alias Nanhak Das was born in 1949 in Bara village, Tola Bhat Bigha which falls under the police station area of Alipur in the District Gaya (Bihar). His father Mahadeo Das was a bonded agriculture (halwaha) labourer. In his childhood, Nanhe was forced to work as a "gorkha" (grazing the cattle) of landlords. During this period in his life he used to be beaten severely by the landlords and their sons.
At a very young age, he was forced into the same bondage which his father had been in. He married Baleshwari Devi at the age of 14. He has five daughters and two sons. He has had to work like a slave the whole day for a pittance throughout since his childhood. He could never dream of asking for proper wages. Apart from the agriculture related work, he had been given the domestic work in the landlord’s household. That had been the kind of feudal landlordism that existed in Bihar. The same situation continues in many parts of Bihar and Jharkhand.
Agricultural workers or landless peasants started asserting themselves and soon it turned out to be a mighty wave of resistance movement against the oppression of landlords and their private army called Diamond Sena. The same private army was also called a Swarna Liberation Front. This band of goons had carried out heinous massacres of hundreds of people belonging to oppressed castes and classes in places like Sawan Bigha (Jahanabad), Rampur Chai (Jahanabad), Mein Barsimha (Gaya) and other places. Angered by the inaction of the state police of Bihar, which secretly supported the illegal private landlord army, the affected people chose the path of resistance. Bara incident is one such act of resistance.
Nanhelal and his brother Jugal Das were implicated in this case without any basis. Their names were falsely mentioned in the FIR which was a fabricated one by the police. TADA was also imposed on Nanhe. He has been languishing in jail for the last 11 years. The TADA designated Court sentenced him to death and other three on 8th June 2002. He has been shifted to Bhagalpur Central prison under miserable conditions. His wife has been forced to take to agricultural labour after he was jailed in the case to look after the children. Now she along with her children migrated to another village called Barkibigha Chandouti village in Gaya District. His family has been forcefully evicted by the landlords.
Veer Kumar Paswan:
Veer Kumar Paswan was born in 1944 in a landless Dalit family in a village called Khutbat in the Alipur police station limits of Gaya district. At a very young age, like Nanhelal, he was forced to work as gorkha, the village shepherd whose duty was to herd the cattle of the landlords in the grazing lands. He passed through several periods of starvation in his childhood.
He married Chandramani Devi when he was 10. He has two daughters and a son. At a later stage he began to make a living out of selling hens and goats. Landlords of his village did not like his independent way of life and destroyed his hens and goats several times. He was severely beaten up by the landlords who enjoy absolute power on lame excuses like his hens were spoiling the crops. He was made to pay huge amounts of compensation for the supposed damage of crops. In turn the landlords themselves lent the money to pay these illegal fines at exorbitant rates of interest. Finally when he was not able to pay back the loans he was turned into a bonded labourer again.
After Bara incident took place, the landlords implicated him in the case as they had failed to bring him under their control. The villagers believe that the police were directed by the landlords to arrest him from his house after the Bara incident. He has been languishing in prison for the last 11 years and presently jailed in Bhagalpur Central prison after he was awarded with death penalty.
Krishana Mochi
Krishna Mochi who is also known as Krishna Das was born in 1949 in a landless Dalit (Chamar) family of Bhatbigha, a hamlet in Bara village in the police station limits of Alipur in Gaya district. His father Chaiti Rabidas was a bonded labourer. But he decided to send Krishan Das to school for study, which was objected by landlords. With great difficulty, Krishna Das was able to study class 7th from Dihura Middle School of Tekari, district of Gaya. Due to poverty, there was no scope to continue the study, so he had to work with his father. He also learnt to play English Bands in Baraat parties (marriage ceremonies).
He married Chandramani Devi at the age of 13. He has two daughters and three sons. He began to oppose feudal repression. So, he became the target of landlords. After the Bara incident, he was named in FIR and was arrested. He has been in jail since about 13 years. He also organised several struggles against the oppression of jail authorities. He is sentenced to death by TADA court of Gaya on 7th June 2002. Currently, he is in Bhaglapur Central Jail.
Dharu Singh:
Dharu Singh was born in 1973 in a middle class peasant family of a Rajput caste. His family was earning livelihood by cultivation and selling milk. Since his childhood he was labouring hard along with his father. He started his primary education in his village Dihura. He passed 7th standard from Dihura Middle School, then he shifted to Tekari and passed matriculation from Prakash Vidya Mandir, Tekari (Gaya). He played football with great interest during his school days. He was very much eager to acquire higher education. But due to bad economic condition of his family, he has to stop his education. Finally, he began to work with his father in his fields.
He married Lalita Devi. He has a daughter and two sons. He could not meet the minimum requirements of his family depending on his cultivation. He wandered here and there to get some job. But he failed to get any job, and decided to continue in agriculture.
The landlords of his village tried to occupy his lands and crops. Cases were filed in courts and this forced him to meet exorbitant expenses for court cases. He went on taking loans. But finally by the time the Court ruled in his favour, economic condition became miserable.
Meanwhile, Bara incident took place and his opponent Sumiran Sharma implicated him in this case. But he did not surrender before the Police or Court. Finally, the police arrested him at Gaya Railway station with the help of the landlords of his village. He was also awarded death sentence by TADA designated court of Gaya, by Justice Jawahar Chaudhary. He is now in Bhagalpur Central Jail.
Shobhit Chamar:
Shobhit Chamar of village Durgawati, District Bhabhua (Bihar) is a landless agriculture worker. He was made an accused in an accident of Durgawati police station by the landlords of the area. He was given death punishment by a Sessions and Distrcit Judge of Rohatas on 23rd February, 96. The Supreme Court has confirmed the death sentence of Shobhit Chamar and he is currently languishing in Bhagalpur Central Prison.
The Supreme Court has confirmed the punishment of death sentences in Bara Case by a majority of 2:1, Justice Shah differing from the majority view and questioned the awarding of death sentences on the basis of the "quality of evidence" of a single public witness PW-21.
