Nitish Kumar faces Opposition heat over spurt in crime

Patna: The “jungle raj” has returned to haunt Bihar. Chief minister Nitish Kumar is being criticised by the Opposition parties for failing to check crime in the state.

Leader of the Opposition and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav recently hit out at the chief minister saying, “There is a ‘maha jungle raj’ as criminals in the state seem to have lost the fear of law”.

“The crime graph has gone up because the police has been asked to focus more on the liquor prohibition. The main agenda for cops is to nab people involved in the liquor business and leave them after taking money,” Tejashwi Yadav said.

Observers are of the view that there was fall in rates of murder and robberies between 2005 and 2013 but crime graph increased in later years.

Opposition leaders told this newspaper that the cognisable crime graph has gone up in recent times because “the good governance policy of chief minister Nitish Kumar has failed” and common people are being targeted by criminals.

The Opposition parties also cite the repeated incidents of crime against women and spate of killings to justify their claim.

Allegations levelled by the Opposition have been dismissed by the police as well as the JD(U)-led state government.

Police officials cited National Crime Records Bureau data to point out that Bihar has the lowest crime rate in the country and law and order situation improved after liquor prohibition was imposed in 2016.

After Nitish Kumar imposed a blanket ban on liquor consumption, Bihar police statistics showed a decline of 25.36 per cent in the crime rate. However, in 2017 the state witnessed a steep rise in cognizable offences in comparison to 2015 and 2016.  

As per the state police statistics in 2015 - a year before prohibition was imposed - cognizable crimes stood at 1,95,397. In 2016, the statistics showed only a minimal decline but again in 2017, the cognizable crimes rose to 2,36,037. In 2018, till February, 35,522 cognizable crimes had been recorded. Other major crimes like murder, rape, kidnapping and rioting also increased during this period.

Speaking on the issue JD(U) spokesperson Niraj Kumar said, “There are laws to deal with criminals. Police has been taking tough measures and criminals are being arrested so allegations that the state government is not performing is baseless.” Policing, according to the Opposition parties, has lost its focus because of liquor prohibition as cops in the state are busy helping mafia and law and order is no more a priority for them.

According to the RJD, poor people have been sent to jail for various offenses under the prohibition law.

According to reports, around 1.29 lakh people were sent to jail for violating the prohibition law in Bihar and as many as 90,803 cases were registered in connection with the law.