The women are receiving medical treatment at a government-run hospital in Bettiah.
Five women were shot at a village in Bihar's Bettiah district during a dispute over land. All are in hospital, fighting for their lives. The man allegedly responsible has been arrested. The police said the shooting started when the women went into protest mode over land at the Nakti Patwara village in West Champaran district.
The villagers claim that the land was given to them as part of a grant for landless laboureres by the government in 1985. The matter then moved to court as the people who were dispossessed, pressed their claim. The court has placed a freeze on the land since 2004.
But this morning, the former owner Shishir Dubey brought a tractor and forcibly attempted to plough the field. When the women came out to object, he pulled out a gun and sprayed them with bullets, injuring five of them, the police said.
Senior police officers immediately reached the area, sources said.
The police then deployed teams to comb the area, after which the accused was arrested. The investigation will also continue alongside, the police said.
"The police are investigating the whole matter. In the end, whose land is it? One person has been taken into custody in connection with the firing and is being questioned," said Upendranath Verma, the Superintendent of Police, Bettiah.
The gun used for the firing will be examined by the forensics department and action will be taken on basis of the results.
The women are receiving medical treatment at a government-run hospital in Bettiah.