SUMMARY
The Ranvir Sena was created by the upper caste elite of the state of Bihar to tackle the political and military activity of the so-called ‘Naxalites’. The word ‘Naxalite’ encompasses various communist groups in India, such as CPI-ML (Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist) and MCC (Maoist Communist Centre), which have fought in Bihar for better working and living conditions for the lower castes and the so-called ‘untouchables’. People from the lower castes are commonly employed, for very meager wages, to work as agricultural laborers on land owned by the upper castes. Some members of the upper castes of Bihar have chosen to counter demands (both political and military) for higher wages and land reform by employing private militias, such as the Ranvir Sena, against the Naxalite groups and civilians who they deem to be supportive of them. The context of the conflict encompasses land rights and ownership and the issue of socio-economic change.
The goals of the Ranvir Sena can be clearly seen in the abovementioned context; the group acts on behalf of the upper castes to counter any changes to the status quo proposed by the lower castes and the Naxalites. In pressing this agenda the Ranvir Sena targets members of the Naxalite groups, but also suspected supporters of the communist groups from within the Dalit community and other lower castes. The Ranvir Sena also perpetrates attacks on civilians in times of elections, in attempts to dissuade the untouchables and the lower castes from voting for the communist or left-wing alternatives.
In the sphere of one-side violence the Ranvir Sena perpetrates attacks on civilian villages, attacking with guns and hacking weapons mainly in the night time, killing men, women and children alike. The group is also reported to have burnt villages after looting them, and have also perpetrated many accounts of rape and other atrocities. The Ranvir Sena commonly admits that it carries out massacres of civilians, with leader Brahmeshwar Singh admitting on his arrest that he had no remorse for the massacres carried out and that the Naxalites had to be wiped out as they constituted a threat to the entire country. Ranvir Sena activity has however been located only in the state of Bihar.
The Ranvir Sena first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 1997, when the one-sided violence resulted in over 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached in December that year when the group perpetrated a massacre of over 60 lower caste peasants in Lakshmanpur Bath.
