The Jharkhand BJP has launched a four-day agitation across the state’s South Chotanagpur division, demanding a CBI probe into the death of tribal activist Nisha Kumari Bhagat, who died in Ranchi on November 6 after a Facebook Live video in which she accused the state government and land brokers of harassing her.
The agitation began on November 10 with torchlight processions in Ranchi, Lohardaga, Gumla, Khunti and Simdega, followed by a candlelight march the next day. The BJP has said a procession will be taken out on November 17 and a bandh observed in the division on November 18, and that the stir will continue until the state government recommends a CBI inquiry.
Bhagat, around 38 years old and a prominent tribal rights activist from the Oraon community, was found dead at her residence in Pithoria, Ranchi, on Friday, minutes after going live on Facebook for nearly 11 minutes. In the video, she accused the Hemant Soren-led state government, alleged land brokers and the police administration of harassing her and failing to protect her.
Police have registered an unnatural death case and are investigating the circumstances. No suicide note was recovered from her room, and the post-mortem report from the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences is awaited. Her father, Handu Bhagat, has lodged a named complaint against three people, including tribal leader Ajay Tirkey and the Pithoria police station in-charge, and has demanded a CBI probe, saying high-profile people are involved.
The case has drawn in voices beyond the BJP. The National Commission for Women has taken suo motu cognisance of the death and sought an action-taken report from the state. Former chief minister Raghuvar Das visited Bhagat’s family in Gumla and demanded a high-level CBI inquiry along with Rs 1 crore compensation for the family. The CPI(ML) Liberation, an ally of the ruling government, has also called for a fair investigation.
The BJP’s ST Morcha, which announced the agitation, says no action has been taken against anyone named in the complaint so far. Leader of Opposition Babulal Marandi was among those who paid their last respects to the activist, whose last rites were held in her ancestral village in Gumla district.
The state government has not yet responded to the demand for a CBI probe. With the agitation now under way and a bandh planned for November 18, the death of one activist has become the sharpest political flashpoint in Jharkhand in months — and the questions her family is asking remain unanswered.
