Activists warned that last week’s violent student agitation in the sprawling north Indian state of Bihar marked the beginning of a popular movement against spiraling police atrocities, which include as many as 68 encounter deaths in 2002. In the latest incident in one of India’s most backward provinces which functions minus an independent Human Rights Commission, the police killed Army soldier, Amitesh Sharma, 23 in a neighborhood close to the state capital, Patna, charging him with involvement in a bike-snatching incident. The hapless Sharma who was home on vacation, was ambushed and shot dead by a police party while returning from an innocuous trip to the bank. Later, an embarrassed government gave Sharma a state funeral. Full Story