A sharp surge in rape cases and deteriorating law and order situation in Bihar have put Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in a piquant situation who never loses an opportunity to flash his ‘single most achievement’ as improved law and order in the state.
Nearly a dozen cases of gangrape, sexual assault and eveteasing were reported recently not only from remote areas but even in the capital city of Patna.
A few days back the suicide note of a college student, Kanchanbala, addressed to the superintendent of police (SP) of Sitamarhi speaks volumes on the role of police.
In the note, she wrote despite meeting the SP twice no action was taken against the culprits who allegedly made MMS to blackmail her.
Her family, which approached the Director General of Police (DGP) in vain, alleged humiliation and torture by the police.
The police inaction resulted in a violent outburst in Vaishali district when frustrated locals attacked a police station and set afire many vehicles when the police failed to arrest the accused of a gangrape-cum-murder case.
Earlier nine girls of Aliganj in Rohtas district were forced to approach the National Commission for W o m e n (NCW) when some local goons made their life miserable by regularly eve-teasing and later blackmailing them.
Rape cases were also reported from Silao, Madhepura, Ara and Gaya.
Interestingly, the victims—college or school students—in Gaya and Silao turned hostile.
In Maner of Patna district miscreants even tried to abduct a lady teacher.
In Madhepura, a 14-year-oldgirl got pregnant after being gangraped by four persons.
The police acted like Patna rape case only when media highlighted the case.
The latest figures of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) indicate that crimes against women in Bihar have increased significantly by 65 per cent in the last three years.
NCW member Charu WaliKhanna, who recently visited Patna to investigate some of the cases, met some victims and arranged their meeting with DGP Abhyanand.
Expressing her anguish on the role of police, she said, “Jungle Raj prevails here.
The state government has provided bicycles to the young girls, but there is no assurance of safety and security to them.
”Interestingly, when a rape victim visited the Janata Darbar of Deputy Chief Minister Sushil K Modi, he took the large-scale reporting of cases of rape and eve teasing as his government’s achievement.
According to him, the credit goes to his government for empowering and enabling women who come to report more and more cases of rapes and sexual assaults due to improved law and order and fearlessness on their part to register FIRs.
“The recent rise in crime graph of the state is not only the lack of professionalism on the part of police force but also complete breakdown of the line command system.
Local officers get influenced by politicians and power brokers and they no more feel accountable to the common masses.
If police could professionally tackle the cases in a given time, the result would have been different,” said a former senior police officer.
The claim of good governance and effective law and order machinery got a severe jolt when recent crime records of the state showed a sharp rise in cognizable offences from 1,04,778 in 2005 when Nitish came to power to 1,47,633 in 2011.
The maximum rise was reported in the cases of kidnapping, theft and riots.
The cases of kidnapping reported in 2005 were 2,226 which almost doubled to 4,211 in 2011.
Severe criticism and public outcry forced the state government to pull up its socks.
The chief minister immediately called a meeting of senior police officers and gave them some instructions.
But the weaker section of the society would take time to regain confidence in the system.
-Sunday Standard