Jamuna Nishad

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Jamuna Prasad Nishad, (b. 1953) is an Indian politician, from the Bahujan Samaj Party, representing the Pipraich constituency in the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly). Nishad became the Minister for Fisheries in the Mayawati government, but was forced to resign after being named on charges of murdering a policeman^[1]. He is also named in eight other criminal charges ^[2]. The name is more commonly written Jamuna Nishad, and sometimes Yamuna Nishad, Jamuna Nisad or Jamuna Prasad.

1 Political Career
2 Murder of police constable
- 2.1 Sacked from the ministry
3 References

[edit] Political Career

Nishad draws his political support from the Scheduled Caste community in eastern UP, and also from Muslims. Despite contesting in about fifteen elections, he has won only twice, once as a village mayor (gram pradhan) and then in 2007 to the state legislative assembly^[3]. He first contested as an independent in the Assembly elections in 1985 as an independent, and then again in 1989 and 1991, losing on all three occasions. Subsequently he was fielded by the Samajwadi Party^[4], and lost Lok Sabha elections to Yogi Adityanath in 1998, 1999 and 2004^[5].

In 1996, he changed affiliations to the Bharatiya Janata Party but lost again from Pipraich. In 2002, he changed his assembly constituency to Paniyara as an SP candidate and lost. He finally won as gram Pradhan from his native village and in the Uttar Pradesh Elections 2007, he won from the Pipraich constituency with a 7% (6,000 vote) margin^[6] over the criminal-politician and liquor-baron Jitendra Jaiswal alias Pappu, erstwhile minister under Kalyan Singh of the BJP.

He was appointed as Minister of Fisheries by Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati.

[edit] Murder of police constable

On the night of 2008-06-08 Nishad went in his official "red-beacon" car to the Kotwali police station in Maharajganj district, near Gorakhpur, demanding that the police pursue the perpetrators of a rape on a Dalit girl^[2]. The rape had occurred on May 26, but the police resisted filing a First Information Report until June 5. The girl testified to rape in court, but an initial medical report, contested by the Dalits, had determined that there was no rape. The police then downgraded the crime to eve-teasing and released the boy accused of the crime. However the Dalit community felt that the police were biased towards the perpetrator, and Nishad was there to protest.

At one stage, the group attempted to enter the strongroom in the police station, and constable Krishnanand Rai, a noted hockey player^[7], was apparently preventing their entry. In the ensuing altercations, someone from Nishad's group fired three rounds, and two bullets hit constable Rai in the chest, killing him. This was part of an attempt to "ransack the police station and loot the armoury,", according to Deputy Inspector General of Police, G L Meena^[8].

[edit] Sacked from the ministry

Subsequently, Mayawati summoned Nishad for discussions and later dropped him from the ministry^[1], while appointing a special medical board to investigate the rape charges. Nishad has denied that he went to the Kotwali police station at all, claiming that he had merely "called up some officials and asked them to probe the rape case"^[8], and that the violence was instigated by angry locals. However, police inspector GP Sharma has said that the minister had "barged into the premises" of the police station^[9].

Two days later, the special medical board reported that the girl had indeed been raped^[10]. The investigating police officer in the case, Munni Ram, was suspended.

Nishad could not be arrested until three days after the the constable's death, since the concurrence of Mayawati was required. Nishad has six other cases of rioting and assault against him^[3].

He is the third minister to be dropped from the Mayawati cabinet on criminal grounds^[11].