Law and order problem returns to haunt Bihar

Correct me if I am wrong, but it’s a fact that Mohammad Shahabuddin inflicted more blows to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar during his 20 days of freedom from jail when compared to the combined Opposition’s onslaught in the last 11 months,” a retired bureaucrat recently told a senior BJP leader.

Agreeing in toto, the BJP legislator then recounted how Shahabuddin and his henchmen had unleashed such a reign of terror in and outside Siwan, that the judge, who had awarded the former Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP life-term in a criminal case, sought his transfer from Siwan to Patna.

This form of conversation in Bihar, of late, has not been limited to between an officer and a politician. Even the people, who stood by Kumar during the 2015 Assembly elections, feel let down every time Shahabuddin exposes the JD(U) strongman’s weaknesses.

“Nitish is no better than Madhu Koda, the former Jharkhand CM, who had no mass base. He became the chief minister due to circumstances. Similar is the case with Nitish. Otherwise, Lalu Prasad, who is even today a mass leader, continues to be my leader,” said an unapologetic Shahabuddin.

Not only Bihar, but also the entire nation was watching bizarrely how Lalu never made a concerted effort to rein in his protégé or ask him to refrain from at least publicly deriding the chief minister who was at the helm with the support of the RJD.

While the episode badly bruised Kumar’s assiduously cultivated image of a ‘sushasan babu’ (one who heralded good governance), it also gave credence to the theory that the politician-criminal nexus (of 1990s) had once again come to rule the roost in Bihar.

Though Kumar, at one meeting after another, reassured everyone that “good governance” was his USP and nobody could even dare to tinker with the law, the observations made by the Supreme Court judges, while hearing Shahabuddin’s bail cancellation plea, became the talking point. The apex court had rapped the state government for its late response to Shahabuddin’s bail.

The Bihar CM’s misfortune was that the national media relentlessly slammed him for Shahabuddin’s release, but when the same person was sent behind bars, the credit went to the apex court and not to the state government which too had challenged the Patna High Court ruling along with Prashant Bhushan, representing the victims’ parents.

Image conscious
Making his bid for a larger role in national politics, Kumar is working overtime to ensure that his image, which of late has taken a severe beating, remains largely unblemished. It is precisely against this backdrop that any leader from his party, caught on the wrong side of the law, is not only immediately booked but even thrown out.

Take for example the case of Sarfaraz Alam, the JD(U) MLA who got the boot when he was charged with sexual harassment by a woman passenger travelling in the Rajdhani Express. Kumar also took no time in suspending JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi, whose son Rocky was arrested for killing a 19-year-old in a road rage incident.

“In society, no one can predict human behaviour and, therefore, cannot guarantee that a particular crime won’t take place. But till I am at the helm, the rule of law will prevail. The rule of law means if anyone commits a crime, he or she is brought to book, irrespective of his/her position and party affiliations,” Nitish told DH. “For me, no one is above law. If you do wrong, you will have to face the consequences,” he said, adding, “Tell me about any other state where action has been taken against an accused so promptly.”

But irrespective of Nitish’s effort to ensure rule of law prevails here, cases spring up out of the blue to blot his image. The latest instance is the release of rape accused legislator Raj Ballabh Yadav, who was suspended from the RJD after he was jailed for sexually assaulting a minor girl in February this year.

After the Patna HC granted him bail a fortnight ago, Raj Ballabh was released from jail on October 2, the day Nitish was busy enforcing a new prohibition law. Raj Ballabh’s release again got Nitish bad press.

He eventually decided that the state government should file a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court and seek cancellation of bail granted to Raj Ballabh.

The BJP, however, termed Nitish’s move as an eyewash. “First, the government failed to oppose his bail in the high court. Now, it has casually filed an SLP in the apex court,” said senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi.

“While the main accused in the rape case was granted bail, the person who helped him is languishing in jail,” said Modi, questioning the shoddy prosecution. Requesting the apex court to cancel his bail too (much like Shahabuddin), the Nitish regime has informed the Supreme Court that “Raj Ballabh is accused of committing rape with a minor and has a history of several heinous cases pending against him at various stages of investigation and trial”.

The SC will hear his bail cancellation plea on October 17. Till then, and even after that, Nitish will have to ensure that there is no repeat of a Shahabuddin or a Raj Ballabh-type fiasco as these history-sheeters could pour cold waters on his national ambition.
DH News Service