By Manzar Bilal, TwoCircles.net,
Patna: The sudden rise in abduction and kidnap-murder cases in the state has become a matter of big concern and a great challenge for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, whose Government has always termed the regime of Lalu-Rabri as the period of crimes. Since he assumed office for third consecutive term as CM on 26th November 2010, the state has witnessed an outbreak of kidnap-murder cases.
One after another incidents of abduction and subsequent murder during last one month in different parts of the state has given sleepless nights to the people especially parents of school children, who are the victims in the most cases, as the police have failed to recover the abducted school boys safely.
Nitish Kumar
In the latest case, 5-yr-old Golu Kumar of Nai Sadak under Gaya Civil Lines police station was abducted and killed. He was abducted on 22nd December 2010 and police could nab the culprits only on Monday 3rd January but it was too late as the victim was already killed.
This came on the heels of revelation by Vaishali police that 4-yr-old Neeraj Kumar, who was kidnapped in Dec., has been killed by the abductors. Earlier, a class 9 student Shubham of Muzaffarpur was kidnapped and strangled to death by a gang in the same month.
The abduction and subsequent murder of 10-yr-old Amarjeet Kumar of Patna has already been a matter of discussion in the capital city last month.
But these cases do not seem enough for state police to be proactive for timely action. Rather it is showing careless gesture to the people when they approach them with complaints.
Take the case of 18-yr-old Mohammed Shah Raza of Saraunja village in Begusarai district. He was kidnapped on 30th Dec. and abductors demanded a ransom of Rs.25 lakh for his release. His father Mohammed Salim went nearby police station to lodge FIR on 31st Dec. but police refused to do so. This behavior of police angered the villagers and they protested before the deputy superintendent of police. Only then the case was lodged on 1st Jan 2011. However, police are yet to make any breakthrough for his recovery.
Similarly, Rohit Kumar (12) of Janakpur area of Gaya has gone missing since Saturday (1st Jan.). His family has lodged an FIR but police are yet to crack the case.
The case of Rajiv Singh of Sitamarhi also witnessed the failure of police as he was abducted on Dec. 17 and later killed. The police recovered his body last week. Besides, more than half a dozen businessmen have been abducted in December alone.
Bihar DGP Mr. Neelmani has admitted two days before that the rise in kidnapping incidents remains a matter of concern for police in the state. According to him, about 3,282 kidnapping cases were registered last year which was somehow higher compared to 3,142 in 2009. He also admitted that there was an increase in road robbery cases also as 970 such cases were registered in 2010 against 962 and 897 in 2009 and 2008 respectively. However, he claimed that the overall crime graph declined in 2010 compared to last years.
The cases of abductions registered in 2009 (3142) which went up to 3282 in 2010 are much higher than 2003 and 2004 (the period of Rabri Devi) with 1956 and 2566 cases of the kidnapping respectively. This runs contrary to Nitish Kumar’s claim that kidnappings have come down drastically in his rule.