The recent spate of abductions in Bihar has brought back haunting memories of the crime spree that made the state India’s most lawless in the 1990s. Back then, abductions were not just borne out of financial or personal motive but were an ugly political tool to settle scores and influence elections.
The rise of Lalu Yadav’s RJD overlapped the rising crime graph, tainting the party for decades to come. Will the latest abduction spree in Bihar do the same to Lalu’s off-again, on-again friend and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar?
Here’s a look at the recent cases of abductions in the state:
March 19, 2023: A minor girl was kidnapped in Jogiar village under Sidhwalia police station area of Gopalganj. An FIR was registered against three persons who allegedly tried to force the victim into marriage
March 18, 2023: A 13-year-old boy, son of a post office clerk, was kidnapped in Adhivakta Nagar in Gopalganj by two persons. The boy was found within 20 hours in an unconscious state in a stadium.
March 16, 2023: A teacher’s son was kidnapped and murdered in Bihta, Patna. The boy had left the house around 6pm but did not return at night. The family received a WhatsApp call later demanding a ransom of Rs 40 lakh. The victim, a Class 6 student, was murdered the same day and his burnt body was recovered from behind the ESIC Hospital.
March 16, 2023: The only son of renowned homoeopathic practitioner SP Singh was abducted from Kanti town in Muzaffarpur district. The abductors forced the 26-year-old into an SUV near a private school and fled.
March 14, 2023: RJD leader Sunil Rai was abducted from outside his office in Bihar’s Saran area. He was rescued by Saran police in Chhapra within 24 hours. A total of five abductors were arrested.
March 4, 2023: The senior manager of a mobile company was abducted from Patna’s Danapur division. His mobile was used to send a WhatsApp message to his mother Sarita Devi, demanding that she deposit Rs 25 lakh in his account in two days. The victim was rescued Patna GRP from Asansol on March 7.
March 1, 2023: The family of Dr Sanjay Kumar, head of the pharmacology department at Patna’s Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH), reported him missing on March 1. Kumar is reportedly related to actor and TV personality Shekhar Suman. The family has alleged abduction but even after more than two weeks, he hasn’t been traced yet.
February 25, 2023: A journalist in Sheikhpura district was abducted in broad daylight. Quick action from the police saw his being rescued within three hours. Three people were arrested.
February 6, 2023: Madhubani District Programme Officer (DPO) Rajesh Mishra, a resident of Muzaffarpur, went missing last month. He left the house alone, according to reports, and when he didn’t return till evening, his family went out in search of him. When they were unable to locate him, they proceeded to the Ahiyapur police station and filed a complaint. A case of abduction has been registered.
Targeting former alliance partner and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on law and order and spate of abductions, Bihar BJP President Sanjay Jaiswal told News18: “This word had disappeared in Bihar 17 years ago. It used to happen before 2005. CM Nitish Kumar has become helpless. The leadership in Bihar is with the RJD and the Chief Minister has become a rubber stamp. This has emboldened criminals.”
BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Modi had even accused Lalu Prasad’s nephew Nagendra Rai of extortion, saying the latter reached a plot with weapons and demanded Rs 2 crore. Sushil Modi said the police did not act on this.
“Nitish Kumar put the lives of the people in danger by compromising with crime and corruption. In just seven months since the formation of the grand alliance government, the kidnapping industry has made a comeback.”
Hitting back, RJD MLA Bhai Virendra alleged that a BJP member could be behind the kidnap and murder of the Class 6 student. “I think the person who committed the murder may be a member of the BJP. This thing will come out in the investigation.”
JDU MP Sunil Kumar Pintu admitted there has been an uptick in abductions but said the CM is handling the situation. “It is true that there have been incidents. But the Chief Minister is constantly taking cognizance and is having regular meetings with senior officials. CM Nitish Kumar neither saves anyone nor implicates anyone.”
Origins of ‘Jungle Raj’
To date, only two words are used to sum up the 1990s in Bihar – jungle raj. Between 1992 and 2004, the state reported scores of highway robberies, over two dozen massacres that killed at least 395 people, and over 30,000 kidnapping for ransom cases.
While other Indian states saw economic and technological boom, Bihar kept regressing in terms of development and law and order. Private militia-like groups mushroomed across the state and the kidnapping industry flourished. Between 2001 and 2005, the state recorded 18,189 murders, as per information available on the Bihar Police website.
The situation was so dire that the phrase ‘jungle raj’ first came to be used in a courtroom. It was used by the Patna High Court to describe the situation under the rule of Lalu Yadav’s wife Rabri Devi. The High Court referred to ‘jungle raj’ again in 2011.
“Patna is a jungle, there is no rule of law here,” the court had said in reference to the government departments’ style of functioning and mushrooming of apartment blocks in the city in violation of the rule of law.
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