RANCHI/DALTONGANJ: Five men belonging to the Birhor tribe, categorized as a primitive and endangered tribe group, are facing life in prison for stealing nine meters of cloth and some inexpensive, petty items after breaking into some houses in October and November.The five men, who work at a local brick kiln, were arrested by the Palamu police on Sunday when they were at work. Police said nine meters of cloth and some other items — four mobile phones, one mobile battery, one rechargeable plastic torch and one emergency rock light — were seized from their possession. They have been charged under Section 395 of IPC, which entails punitive provisions for dacoity and warrants life imprisonment.Under this section, any competent court can also award rigorous imprisonment of up to10 years in jail. The men are learnt to have confessed to their crime in October and November in Latheeya and Itko villages under Nawa Bazar police station. Though police said the intruders had also stolen some cash, the five tribals did not even have enough money to pay the tailor and get the cloth stitched. Birhor is among the nine primitive and endangered tribal groups in Jharkhand . According to a report of the Jharkhand Tribal Welfare Research Institute there were just 7,514 birhors in the state in 2001 Census. They are mostly hunter gatherers depending on monkeys, rabbits and Titirs (a bird). Several attempts to convert them to have a settled life by the government have turned futile.Palamu SP Indrajeet Mahatha said the five men are very poor, but no one enjoys immunity from law. "Had there been four or less people involved, we would have charged them with robbery under Section 392. But when the number is five or more, it is dacoity," he said, adding that dacoity also involves terrorising the residents of a house while a crime is committed. "We were under tremendous pressure when locals staged a road blockade demanding immediate arrest of the criminals after three households were raided in one night during November," he said.DSP Heeralal Yadav cracked the case by tracking the location of mobile phones. Involvement of these people in the crime was further established once police found the cloth in their possession. Mahatha said there were seven members in the group, of which five present at the brick kiln during the police raid have been arrested.

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