Justice in Nitish’s Bihar: Quick, nasty and brutal

By Manoj Kumar Patna: Crime might have dipped in Bihar after Nitish Kumar took over the state’s reins but acts of barbarism acts have not. The punishment for minor crimes is often harsh and brutal. People go blind after acid is poured into their eyes, some others get nails hammered into their body and women get raped. There are features of the Dark Age in the 21st century Bihar which are shocking as well as terrifying. Interestingly, many of the culprits are members of the ruling party, which claims to have a progressive outlook and prides itself on taming criminals. In Saharsa district of north Bihar, a ruling party office-bearer, Chandramani Prasad Singh, and his henchmen took into captivity a teenaged boy last week for allegedly stealing an electric fan. While the police failed to link the theft to the boy, the JD(U) workers have took upon themselves to punish him. According to the victim’s family, the angry leader made his supporters hammer nails into the body of the boy and even made an attempt to hang him. The mark of the brutality is clearly visible on his body. The party has dismissed the leader but is yet to ensure that he is arrested.[caption id=“attachment_384788” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Surrounded by unruly colleagues. Image courtesy PIB[/caption] A day before the incident, another JD(U) leader, Shiromani Singh, allegedly poured acid in both the eyes of a woman in Samstipur district. Her crime: she refused to sell the piece of land which the leader wanted to buy. The woman has turned blind in after the acid attack. Here again, there has been no arrest though the police have lodged an FIR against the block level leader. Another JD(U) leader, Amerendra Kumar Pandey, a lawmaker from Kuchaikot assembly seat in Gopalganj district, was recently accused of plotting the cold-blooded murder of a wine dealer in his constituency after he alleged refused comply with his extortion demand. Now he is said to be pressuring the victim family to withdraw the case against him or “another wicket will fall” as the victim family alleges. The incident took place in May this year. Earlier in March, Pandey’s “dare-devilry” had hit headlines when he was accused of abducting a former Indian Information Service official Javed Akhtar and collecting Rs 55 lakh as ransom in exchange for his release. Akhtar’s wife alleged that the lawmaker himself had come to collect the ransom money although Pandey denied the charge. Anant Singh, a JD(U) legislator, had earlier held hostage a former NDTV correspondent for seeking his sound byte in connection with a murder case. Singh is allegedly involved in the case. But for the vigorous protest by the media people, the reporter could have been shot dead by the goons of the lawmaker, it is said. In view of strong protests by the media, the police later arrested him. Singh represents Mokama in the Bihar assembly. Sunil Pandey, another party lawmaker, had threatened to shoot another TV news channel journalist at Hotel Maurya in an inebriated state. The journalist had approached him to get his comment on being informed that he had captured a hotel room and is staying with his family. Pandey who has over two dozen criminal cases lodged against him—such as murder, kidnapping and extortion—represents Piro seat (Bhojpur district) in the state assembly. Recently, his name figured in the daylight murder of Barmeshwar Singh Mukhiya, self-styled chief of Ranvir Sena, a private army of the upper caste landlords. He is currently out on bail but out of reach of the police. It’s not that only the JD(U) leaders are on the rampage. Leaders of the BJP, a partner in the ruling alliance, have been dispensing quick justice with some regularity too. A couple of days ago, a BJP lawmaker was accused of shooting dead a petrol pump worker. While the lawmaker claims the victim was killed due to accidental fire during the course of routine servicing by his security staff, not many are convinced. Earlier this year, another BJP leader was accused of brutally assaulting The Pioneer correspondent Amarnatn Tewari over a trivial issue. The harried journalists later held a meeting in Patna and sought appointment from the chief minister to apprise him of the matter. The meeting never took place. The politicians involved, however, see the charges against them politically motivated, a standard across the country.