A Facebook Live and a shooting: Why Bharat Tiwari’s death in police encounter has shaken Bihar

In a half-constructed, single-storey house in one corner of Bilauti village in Bihar’s Ara, Kashinath Tiwari sits on a cot. Around him, there’s intense activity – vehicles lining both sides of the narrow road leading to the house from the Ara-Buxar highway bring a steady stream of politicians and civil servants – but former police constable driver Kashinath Tiwari remains seated, his silence cutting through the chatter.

On June 17, Kashinath’s 28-year-old son, Bharat Bhushan Tiwari, who was known to take up local issues, was killed in a police encounter after a two-day standoff that was live-streamed to his 1.6 lakh Facebook subscribers. Since then, politicians across party lines have flocked to the family home, even as the encounter itself becomes a subject of intense scrutiny.

“On the day of the encounter, I left home around 6 am to go to the police station to talk with the SHO, but instead they kept me there under supervision till evening. I was still at the police station when my grandson came and told me what happened,” Kashinath said, his voice barely above a whisper.

For their part, police maintain that Tiwari was armed and “mentally unsound”, leading them to shoot him in self-defence after attempts to bring him in peacefully failed. But the Tiwari family and village residents have alleged he was fatally shot after agreeing to surrender, citing a Facebook Live video that purportedly shows him throwing down his gun. They also described him as a social worker, claiming his criticism of delays in rehabilitating last year’s Bhojpur flood victims had pitted him against local officials.

Bhojpur Superintendent of Police Raj said that an FIR has been registered, legal action has been initiated, and a judicial inquiry has been ordered. The police have yet to receive the post-mortem report.

Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, too, ordered an inquiry, while Bihar Education Minister Mithilesh Tiwari called it an “unfortunate incident”. “The boy also displayed inappropriate behaviour on social media. However, the police should have investigated his criminal background first. Even if an encounter was necessary, it should have been a ‘half encounter’ instead of a full one,” he said.

Competing versions

The third of four children of a police constable driver and a homemaker, Tiwari was a BSc graduate who once dreamt of joining the police force. In a press release on Tuesday, the office of the Bhojpur Superintendent of Police said they first visited the house after receiving reports that Tiwari was moving around armed and behaving erratically.

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“When officers visited his residence, they found that the individual seen in widely circulated videos was ‘mentally unsound’,” it read. “The process to send him to a mental hospital had been initiated, and police and medical teams were attempting to take him into safe custody. We appeal to the public not to circulate misleading videos related to the case.”

By Wednesday morning, however, the situation had turned into an armed confrontation, with Tiwari sustaining bullet injuries in an encounter in a nearby field. He was taken first to Shahpur Referral Hospital, then to Ara and finally to PMCH, where he died during treatment.

Police later claimed he continued firing intermittently, forcing them to retaliate in self-defence. A pistol, a magazine, two live cartridges and two spent shells were recovered, the Bhojpur SP statement said.

Family members and eyewitnesses dispute these claims and insist Tiwari had surrendered. Surrounded by relatives in one of the back rooms of the house, Asha Devi claimed her son was killed “because of the issues he raised”.

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“The police arrived at 6 am on June 16 — a day before the encounter. They asked for Bharat, searched the rooms and threatened to kill us all. Bharat, who had bought a pistol for self-protection, emerged looking agitated, pointed the weapon at them, and asked them to leave,” Asha claimed, adding that the personnel allegedly returned at midnight.

“Bharat, who was sleeping on the roof, told them off for sneaking up in the darkness and asked them to return in the day. The next day, the local police and Bhojpur STF returned at 9 am with bulletproof jackets and surrounded the area,” she claimed.

The police told Tiwari that his demands would be met, the family said. “They asked him to go with them to show what issues needed to be resolved,” Tiwari’s younger brother Chandan said. “He was taken to the field and shot. We tried to follow them but were stopped. We thought he would be arrested under the Arms Act… we never imagined he would be shot dead so coldly,” he claimed.

The videos

Tiwari’s Facebook Live has now become the focal point of contradicting claims. During the livestream, Tiwari referred to himself as a “krantikari (revolutionary)”. Videos also purportedly showed him lying on a cot with a pistol while now suspended Shahpur Station House Officer (SHO) Rajesh Malakar, family members and police personnel attempted to calm him.

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“These people want to prove me mad. When Bhagat Singh was fighting for society and the country, he too was declared mad,” he’s heard saying.

Seconds later, he purportedly fired toward a distant police van, saying: “Rukiye, inko abhi hum apna pagalpan dikhate hain (Wait, I’ll show them madness)”.

In his last video on June 17, ostensibly shot minutes before he was killed, Tiwari is heard saying he is “willing to lay down his weapon if authorities addressed his concerns”. The video, shot on a kuchha road between open fields, shows a group of policemen standing in front of police vehicles.

“I’ve just been told that all of my demands (such as flood rehabilitation) that concern governance and society will be met. If they are, I have no problem laying down my arms,” he is purportedly heard saying, before firing a shot in the air and tossing the pistol toward the policemen standing nearby.

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The family claimed that soon after the video ended, three bullets struck Tiwari in the legs but that he was still alive, and that he was then taken in a police van. They claimed they later found “five gunshot wounds on his dead body”.

The issue has become a political flashpoint, with voices not only from the Opposition but also within the ruling establishment questioning the police action.

While BJP leaders such as former Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha and Education Minister Mithilesh Tiwari raised concerns about the handling of the situation, Janata Dal (United) MP Sanjay Jha demanded accountability.

A judicial probe and a police inquiry headed by the Shahabad Range DIG have been ordered. Six policemen, including the SHO, have been suspended. PILs have also been filed in the Patna High Court and Supreme Court.

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Tiwari’s house has seen an endless stream of political visitors all week, from BJP leaders such as Ashwini Choubey to Jan Suraj Party’s Prashant Kishor.

For Kashinath, the outrage and condolences mean little. “I used to carry him around on my shoulders when he was a boy. Now he’s gone,” he said.