On January 31, at about 7 am, more than 300 people from the Brahmin community allegedly attacked Kailash Paswan’s house in the Paswan tola (locality) of Harinagar village in Darbhanga district of Bihar. The Paswans are a scheduled caste community and constitute about 16% of the village population, according to the panchayat head. In Harinagar, a dirt road separates the upper caste dwellings from the pasha’s tola houses.
That morning, police at Kusheshwar Asthan station filed an FIR against 70 Brahmins and 150 unidentified people under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
Hemkant Jha, who residents of Paswan tola say led the attack, was arrested with 11 others from his community. Another 11, all from Paswan tola, were taken to Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) with serious injuries. Almost a month later they are still there. One of them is Kailash’s younger brother who has 12 stitches on his head.
The Brahmins claim that the previous day, when Hemkant was about to leave for Darbhanga on a trip, Kailash and two of his brothers pulled him out of the car and beat him with sticks. The FIR filed on January 30 also states that they tried to extort money and stole Hemkant’s gold chain and ring along with a wallet containing ₹6,000.
A senior police officer says, “We have lodged an FIR from both sides. From Paswan’s family, Asharfi (Paswan, Kailash’s father) has lodged a complaint.”
Kailash Paswan’s house at Harinagar village in Darbhanga which was allegedly destroyed in an attack by people from the Brahmin community. | Photo credit: Amit Bhelari
The dispute centered around a house built by Hemkant’s sister in Kerala between 2015 and 2017. Kailash says he was never paid for it in full, and although he raised it with the Panchayat, the remaining payment was never made. So when he saw Hemkant’s sister and husband in the village, he simply asked for his long pending contributions. The next day, his house and several others in Paswan tola were attacked by Brahmins, he claims.
Vimal Chandra Khan, Mukhiya (panchayat head) of the village says, “People from the Brahmin community should not have attacked Paswan’s family. The matter could have been resolved in the Panchayat meeting. Paswan tola suffered a lot of damage.” A panchayat meeting was held in December 2025 to resolve the matter, but the Brahmins did not turn up. No conclusion was reached at the second meeting held 10 days before the incident.
In the area around Kailash’s house, one room made of brick and cement painted blue and another made of mud and thatch, 15 policemen are stationed day and night. Police say this is the first time the village has seen caste problems on such a scale. Rajesh Kumar, Bihar Special Armed Police (BSAP) deputy constable in the village, says, “We patrol the village to maintain peace and there is no fresh violence at present. Sometimes senior police officials also visit the village to check.”
Fearing arrest, hundreds of male members of the Brahmin community left the village. Women guard information around their residence. Mukhiya says there are about 3500 Brahmins and 700 Paswans in Harinagar.
Caste and migration are equally part of life in Bihar. As many as 53 million families and 2.65 million people live outside Bihar as migrants, according to the Bihar Caste Survey 2022-23 report.
From 2021 to 2023, Bihar ranked fourth among states in the number of cases filed under the SC/ST Act. However, in 2023, according to the National Crime Records Bureau, the conviction rate for scheduled castes was 30.1%, compared to 70% in Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh has consistently recorded the highest number of caste atrocities in three years.
Houses and homes
Kailash, 42, who works as a bricklayer, is the second brother of five and one of 10 children, with the youngest being 27. He said the men forced their way into his house “shouting slogans of Jai Bajrang Bali and Jai Shri Ram” and hurled casteist slurs at them. “They carried wooden sticks, iron rods, axes, hammers, bricks, stones and started attacking us. They chased my elder brother (Vikram Paswan, 45), threw him down and attacked him with sticks and iron rods. They hit him so hard on the head that he started bleeding and he fainted on the spot.”
In 2015, Hemkant’s sister Mina Devi and her husband wanted to build a house in Kerala’s Kozhikode. “They asked for work. My younger brother (Raj Gir Paswan) and four others traveled there and completed the construction by October 2017. Local workers also helped us,” says Kailash. She adds that Mina and her husband Suryakant Jha have given them peace of mind.
“Out of the total payment of ₹3.47 million, they have paid us ₹1.13 million. They said Hemkant Jha will pay the rest later. It has been almost 10 years and the family has not paid us,” claims Kailash, adding that he has paid other villagers, leaving only him and his brother waiting.
One of his younger brothers, Ram Vilas Paswan, runs a dhaba on the outskirts of the village. “They attacked and demolished this too,” says Kailash, adding that his daily income has now been threatened. Houses and barns made of mud and straw lie destroyed, implements scattered in the ditch.
Asharfi, 75, says, “Hemkant Jha was leading the mob and they came with the intention of killing us. My wife Ram Tara Devi (70) and granddaughter Komal Kumari (14) were crying and screaming for help.” He claims they beat his wife and stripped her, broke his granddaughter’s spine and beat him too.
Ram Tara adds that the mob broke the doors and windows of the house. She claims they looted three gold ornaments, silver anklets and cash of ₹2,000, which they had kept for her granddaughter’s wedding. “We took out a loan for the money,” he says.
Kailash’s wife Sanju Devi says, “The whole episode lasted for 3 hours. They looted the TV, fridge and mobile phones and smashed the motorbike. They threatened to kill us.”
Neetu Paswan, 30, a neighbor points to her house, which she says was attacked and damaged by Brahmin men. Other neighbors say the same.
In the Brahmin camp
Satya Narayan Mishra, 60, who lives in the Brahmin section of the village, says it was Paswans fault for starting the hostilities.
Neelam Devi, 50, Hemkant’s chachi (aunt) gives her version, saying the Paswan brothers pulled a man named Shrinath Jha (44) off the bike he had just boarded to visit Hemkant. “They beat him with an ax and an iron rod. They asked why he saved Hemkant and threatened to kill him,” he adds. Shrinath reportedly intervened the day Kailash asked for his money and informed the police. Neelam claims that the Paswans repeatedly threatened her family over the SC/ST Act.
Meanwhile, Parmila Devi, Hemkant’s mother, who lives with her daughter and son-in-law in Kerala, demands, “Whatever you want to know, ask me. Don’t involve my daughter and son-in-law’s names in this matter. They are already tensed and have no role in this.”
They claim that three generations of Paswans have worked for their family. “We treated them like family, but they cheated us. There are no fees, all money has been paid. After this incident, no Brahmin family will ever allow Paswans to work in their house as labourers.” Choking down, she says that their lives have been “broken” and that “because we are upper caste, everyone blames us, even the police”.
Moving to greener countries
Hemkant’s neighbor says Suryakant and Mina are the only family in the village who moved to Kerala 20 years ago. They have four children who are studying, all there. While Hemkant’s mother doesn’t want to talk about why the family moved more than 2,500 kilometers away to settle at home, the panchayat chief says Suryakant moved in with the family after he got a job there. Their two-bedroom house is built on the outskirts of Kozhikode, in a rural hilly area, says Kailash.
Former chairperson of the Center for Development Practice and Research at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Patna, Pushpendra Kumar, explains that people from Bihar traditionally migrated to other Hindi-speaking places in north and central India. “Over the last decade, people have been going to Kerala because it is the state that pays the highest daily wages to workers and has eradicated extreme poverty. It is also one of the most migrant-friendly states,” he says.
Kumar says there is no conflict with the local workers either. “Language support work is also underway,” she says, citing the example of migrant worker Romiya Kathur from Bihar, who scored 100% in her Malayalam literacy test in 2020 after being in the state for just six years.
According to the Economic Survey of Kerala 2025, released in January 2026, there are 4.3 lakh migrant workers registered in Kerala. Of these, those from Bihar are at 57,244, the third largest in Kerala, after West Bengal (1,46,136) and Assam (75,437). The largest number of migrant workers is in the construction industry (17.5 million).
Political exit
After the incident, Bihar rural department minister and senior JD(U) leader Ashok Choudhary warned against misuse of the SC/ST Act. Choudhary, himself from the SC community, said Dalits would lose sympathy if it was misused.
Bihar SC/ST Welfare Minister Lakhendra Kumar Roshan told the media that those responsible for the attack on Paswan should not be spared. “Only the weak are attacked, not the strong. The weak have constitutional rights and that’s why the police filed the FIR,” Roshan said.
Two weeks after the episode, Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) President Chirag Paswan visited the injured in hospital. He assured them that the central government and his party would help the injured.
Kailash is now unsure of how to get the money that Hemkant allegedly owes him. “Maybe the government will help me,” he says.
amit.bhelari@thehindu.co.in
