The death and shooting of Bharat Tiwari, a man hailing from Bhojpur district in Bihar, has now reached the Supreme Court. There is now a political storm in the district after the man was killed in a police encounter that is now being scrutinised and questioned.
The 26-year-old Bharat Bhushan Tiwari was well known locally in the Shahpur area for highlighting and bringing attention to local issues such as flooding, river erosion and displacement through his social media.
His family says he had no criminal record and that he used his Facebook account to speak about public concerns.
On June 17, police attempted to arrest Tiwari after he was found to possess an illegal firearm. Officers present at the site say that Tiwari attempted to fire at them and that they retaliated in self-defence.
Tiwari was subsequently shot multiple times and died during treatment.
Family members and villagers of the man, however, tell a different story. They say that Tiwari surrendered before he was shot by the police. They said that he threw away his weapon and that videos on social media show that he was unarmed when the police opened fire.
According to post-mortem reports, Tiwari was shot twice, on both legs.
He was also live on Facebook during the encounter. The video shows him throwing his weapon after being assured by the the police that they would not shoot.
The live ends after that.
The recent petition filed to the Supreme Court by lawyer, Vishal Tiwari say that the encounter was “fake”. The petition has sought an impartial investigation into the incident and also a registration of an FIR against the policemen involved and the senior officers present at the scene.
The petition also called for a full investigation into all alleged full and partial encounter cases in Uttar Pradesh. Former Union Minister Ashwini Choubey also raised questions about the incident and asked why the police opened fire at an unarmed man. Ara MP Sudama Prasad also cited available video footage and other evidence, calling the encounter suspicious.
The police have claimed that Tiwari was mentally unstable during the encounter.
The death of the Facebook activist has now triggered protests in the region.
Tiwari’s mother, meanwhile, said that she refuses to hold his last rites until the persons responsible for the killing are caught and hanged.
She also claimed that her son's mobile phone, which contains crucial evidence, was being held by the police and demanded that it be returned to the administration.
