Patna, July 30: Trivial incidents are frequently leading to violence in Bihar these days. This is a wake up call for the security agencies as it is not only creating law and order problems but also disturbing peace and harmony in the society.
The Katihar police firing on July 26 was a prime example of this where the people were protesting against erratic power supply in the Barsoi region and some of them pelted stones at the officials.
Katihar superintendent of police Jitendra Kumar said: “It was a normal protest which suddenly turned violent with the protestors pelting stones at the government officials and holding them captive in an office of the electricity department. The police fired at the mob in self defense. We have investigated the incident and every person including the local public representatives are saying how the mob turned violent.”
“It has been learnt that some persons deliberately tried to disturb the peace in the region. Barsoi has a history of protests but they did not turn violent in the past. The way this protest turned violent, we are thoroughly investigating it. The guilty persons will not go scot free,” Kumar said.
Another incident happened in Begusarai on the night of July 20 when a minor girl and a music teacher were brutally assaulted by a mob. They tore the clothes of the girl and the music teacher and beat them in a naked state. They also made a video of the incident and uploaded it on social media.
The police may have arrested the main accused but that incident had raised serious questions over women’s safety and privacy of the common people as the accused broke open the door of the victim’s house to enter inside.
There was another incident in Motihari a week ago when a woman was having an extramarital affair with a youth in a village that comes under the Ramgarhwa police station and her husband, a relative and a barber humiliated them in the middle of the road in full public view.
After one week, Union minister Giriraj Singh tweeted that incident from his Twitter handle and claimed that the Motihari couple were given Talibani punishment. He also wrote that women are getting brutalized every minute in Bihar and Nitish Kumar is dreaming of becoming the prime minister. The NCW also took cognizance of the matter and served a notice to Bihar director general of police RS Bhatti. NCW chief Rekha Sharma asked the DGP to submit an action taken report within three days.
The SHO of Ramganwa told IANS that he had arrested the husband of the woman and two others on the same day the incident took place. They were booked under the IPC sections of physical assault and outraging the modesty of a woman. He added that her husband caught her in an objectionable position with another youth and hence he beat them in public.
An incident of communal tension occurred in the villages of Kamtaul and Mabbi In Darbhanga district on July 24. The police said that anti-social elements were involved in creating problems between two sides. The incident happened on the route of Muharram’s Tazia march.
Awakash Kumar, the district SSP of Darbhanga, claimed that the police had taken timely action and arrested the accused. Some policemen were also injured in this violence.
The state home department proactively took measures and suspended the internet from July 27 to July 30 to prevent rumours and further violence.
Leader of Opposition in the Bihar assembly Vijay Kumar Sinha, who was leading a four-member team that visited some villages coming under the Kamtaul and Mabbi police stations in Darbhanga district on Thursday, said that Nitish Kumar has imposed an undeclared emergency in Bihar.
“In a bid to hide its failure, the state government has suspended internet services in Darbhanga. This is not the first time when internet services were disrupted in Bihar. During Ram Navami this year, internet services were disrupted in Bihar Sharif and Sasaram. They have penalized the Hindu community in these two places. Our former MLA Jawahar Prasad Kushwaha was lodged in jail. It is like an undeclared emergency. The state government is trying to create fear among the public,” Sinha said.
“There was one incident that happened in Manipur but several such incidents are taking place in Bihar every day. The incident in Begusarai was an example of it. The chief minister and deputy chief minister will not talk about it. They do not dare to go for a high level judicial inquiry into the matter,” Sinha said. (IANS)