Nitish regime to charge-sheet Union Minister’s son in communal clash case

In what could be perceived as a severe setback for the ruling alliance partner BJP in Bihar, the Nitish Kumar regime in the State has decided to file charge-sheet against Union Minister Ashwini Choubey’s son in a communal clash case.

A senior BJP MP from Bihar’s Buxar parliamentary constituency, Choubey is at present Union Minister of State (MoS) for Health and Family Welfare in Narendra Modi Government. Choubey’s son Arijit Shashwat, who was booked (FIR No: 176/18) and jailed for vitiating communal harmony and brandishing sword during Ramnavmi procession, is currently out on bail.

Shashwat, who unsuccessfully contested the Bihar Assembly polls from his father’s erstwhile constituency - Bhagalpur - in 2015, was booked by the Bhagalpur police on March 17, 2018 on the charge of vitiating communal harmony during the Hindu New Year’s celebration. He was charged with taking out procession during Ramnavmi without the permission of police and raising provocative slogans in sensitive zones of Bhagalpur which led to communal flare-up, thereby resulting in stone-pelting incidents in the district. Some cops also sustained injuries in the violence.

Evading arrest for a fortnight, he was eventually apprehended in April 2018 when the JD (U) told him: “Either surrender or face an imminent arrest.”

Two years later, the Bhagalpur police is now all set to file a charge-sheet against Choubey’s son after the Chief Minister reportedly gave his nod.

“Prosecution sanction has been received against nine persons, including Shashwat. This will eventually lead to filing of charge-sheet against them in the court of law,” said a top police functionary.

Nitish, who often says he neither protects nor implicates anyone, has been, of late, trying to build bridges with the minority community of Bihar in general and Bhagalpur in particular. The JD (U) strongman is trying to send a message to the Muslims of Bhagalpur that even if the offender is from the ruling alliance, he or she won’t be spared.

It is worth mentioning here that Bhagalpur had witnessed one of the worst riots in 1989 in which around 1000 persons were killed.

The move to file charge-sheet against Shashwat could be a major jolt for the BJP which had earlier projected Choubey’s son as “youth icon of Hindutva politics.”