By IANS
Patna : Ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) legislator Anant Singh and his henchmen assaulted two journalists here Thursday, and then attacked a whole group of newsmen when they went to Singh’s house to protest the original assault. Several journalists were injured. The lawmaker and four of his followers have been arrested.
Anant Singh — who is facing over two dozen criminal cases including charges of murder, kidnapping, extortion and threat — and his henchmen first beat up NDTV correspondent Prakash Singh and cameraman Habib Ali when they went to his house.
Then, when a group of journalists — including TV news channel reporters and cameramen — gathered in front of Anant Singh’s official residence to protest the first attack, the legislator and his cronies abused and threatened them.
They then allegedly attacked the media persons, injuring several of them, and also damaged the cameras of two TV channels.
The arrests came more than five hours after the incidents.
In the first attack, Prakash Singh — a senior correspondent of NDTV — and cameraman Habib Ali were forcibly held hostage for two hours and mercilessly beaten by Anant Singh and his men when the journalists went to seek the legislator’s reaction on reports of his alleged involvement in the rape of a young woman.
The two journalists were rushed to a local hospital.
“Cameraman Habib and I went to take a reaction from Anant Singh about his alleged involvement in the rape of a young woman. But he behaved dangerously. He and his henchmen attacked us and beat us mercilessly at his residence and also abused us,” Prakash Singh said.
Sunil Kumar, deputy inspector general of police, later told newspersons that police had arrested Anant Singh and his men under non-bailable sections of the Indian penal code.
He refused to answer when asked why it took so long to take action against the legislator. “The Patna senior superintendent of police is inquiring into the case,” was all he would say.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was inaccessible to the media since morning. Other leaders of the ruling party refused to comment.
Anant Singh, a legislator from Mokama, is considered close to the chief minister. The legislator is one of the notorious ‘bahubali’ politicians of Bihar — those who wield a lot of muscle power.
In 2004, Singh was seen brandishing an AK-47 rifle in public. But no action was taken against him. Under the law, only security personnel are allowed to carry the assault rifle.
Leader of opposition in the Bihar assembly Rabri Devi, former chief minister and wife of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, joined media persons to demand the arrest of Anant Singh.
Rabri Devi, of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), has given a call for ‘Bihar Bandh’ (statewide strike) on Saturday to protest the incident. “All the opposition parties, including RJD, Congress and Left would join the strike to expose the kushashan (mis-governance) of the Nitish Kumar-led government,” she told reporters.