Ranvir Sena
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Ranvir Sena ( रणवीर सेना ) is an upper-caste militant outfit run mainly by the Bhumihar community of Bihar, India. It carries out actions against supposed naxals and their supporters in rural areas. It has, at several occasions, been accused of human rights abuses[1]. The Ranvir Sena has committed violent acts against Dalits and other members of the scheduled caste community. The Bihar State government has banned the Ranvir Sena in July 1995 and since then the Sena remains proscribed.
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[edit] History
The Ranvir Sena came into existence primarily to counter the influence of various left-wing extremist Naxalite groups and the Communist Party of India, Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML) Liberation in central Bihar. It was founded in September 1994 in Belaur village of Udwantnagar block, Bhojpur district following the merger of private caste armies like Savarna Liberation Army and the Sunlight Sena. The forerunners to the Ranvir Sena in Bhojpur district were the Brahmarshi Sena and Kuer Sena, Kisan Morcha and Ganga Sena. These groups were smaller in size and operated with a limited area. They could not sustain for long and had withered away owing to repeated Naxalite onslaughts.
Dharichan Chaudhary of Belaur had founded the Ranvir Sena. Its founding and continuing commander is Brahmeshwar Singh of Khopira village.
[edit] Area of operation
From Bhojpur district where it was formed, over a period of time, the Ranvir Sena spread to Jahanabad, Patna, Rohtas, Aurangabad, Gaya, Bhabhua and Buxar districts. It mobilises the landed gentry in these districts against the People’s War Group (PWG), the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and the CPI-ML (Liberation).
[edit] Organisation
The Ranvir Sena is highly organized, has extensive influence among landowners in its areas of operation, and is supposedly well-endowed with financial resources.
Sena cadres are militarily better-organised and are better-paid than any of the private armies of the past. The cadres operate mostly underground while their leaders are believed to be living in towns.
Brahmeshwar Singh 'Mukhiya', the founder chief of the Ranvir Sena, on whose head the authorities had placed a reward of half a million Indian rupees, was the Supreme Commander of the Ranvir Sena till he was arrested in Patna on August 29, 2002. Initial reports said that Shamsher Bahadur Singh was, on September 7, 2002, appointed new chief of the Ranvir Sena. However, according to a report of December 25, 2002, the chief of the Ranvir Sena was Bhuar Thakur till he was arrested with his two associates on December 24, 2002 near Karnol bridge on the Patna-Sasaram road in Charpokhri, Bhojpur. [2]
The outfit has an estimated strength of 400 underground cadres. Landowners in central Bihar finance the Sena through “generous” subscriptions. Official sources, in the year 2000, said that each member of the Sena was paid between Rs. 1,100 and Rs. 1,200 per month for work that essentially involves committing murders. Besides, the life of each cadre participating in a massacre is insured for a hundred thousand Indian rupees.
