Tribal leader's killing puts Hemant Soren on defensive

The encounter of a tribal leader has put the Hemant Soren government on the back foot in Jharkhand.

Chief minister Hemant Soren, considered the most prominent tribal face of the JMM, is facing one of the toughest challenges of his tenure after the killing of Surya Hansda in a police encounter in Mahagama on August 11. Police said Hansda, wanted in several criminal cases, was shot when he tried to escape from custody.

Hansda, a former BJP leader who later joined the Jharkhand Liberation Krantikari Morcha (JLKM) and contested multiple assembly polls, has become a rallying point for the opposition. The BJP has staged protests on the streets and inside the assembly, accusing the police of custodial torture. On Friday, a delegation led by state BJP president Babulal Marandi met Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar and sought a CBI probe.


"The police killed Surya Hansda by subjecting him to third-degree torture and electric shocks and then dumped the body, hatching a conspiracy to portray it as an encounter," Marandi told ET.

The National ST Commission has also asked the state police to submit a report on the incident.