Jharkhand: Latehar village takes its first case to the cops since 1947

For the first time since Independence, a dispute from Lalgarhi village in Jharkhand’s Maoist-hit Latehar district reached the police station on Monday.

For the first time since Independence, a dispute from Lalgarhi village in Jharkhand’s Maoist-hit Latehar district reached the police station on Monday.

The present chief justice of Jharkhand high court Virender Singh, during his visit to Latehar in December 2014, had also referred to Lalgarhi as a village with no criminal case.(Photo for representation)

Inhabited by 1,000 people of Kherwar community and situated 10km from the district headquarters, Lalgarhi has the century-old tradition of settling disputes through negotiations, locals said.

Latehar police station officer in-charge Ramesh Prasad Singh told HT on Monday that as the village had the tradition of settling disputes through discussions, it remained litigation-free.

The case, reported on Sunday, was related to elopement of a married tribal man with a girl of the same area, Singh said.

“The local police officers have decided to give both the sides a chance to settle the issue through talks before registering any case, as an action from our end will tarnish the image of the village,” he said.

The present chief justice of Jharkhand high court Virender Singh, during his visit to Latehar in December 2014, had also referred to Lalgarhi as a village with no criminal case.

Singh said, “Given the litigation free-status of Lalgarhi village, we have given the villagers an opportunity to settle the dispute through talks. We will act only when they fail to arrive at a consensus.”

Social activist from Latehar Birendra Prasad told HT, “Growing intolerance is one of the reasons for increasing number of disputes in the society and Lalgarhi.”