A spurt in incidents of alleged gangrapes and other sex-related cri-mes against women in Bihar in recent months has brought fresh embarrassments to the Nitish Kumar-led government, threatening to diminish its hard-earned reputation for empowering women.
“Jungle raj,” a politically loaded phrase used advantageously by the ruling JD(U)-BJP coalition for Bihar’s previous 15-year RJD regime, saw an unexpected revival when a National Commission for Women (NCW) member visiting Bihar used the phrase to describe the rise in crimes against women and the indifference she found in the police response to them.
Visiting Bihar to probe the alleged gangrape of a class XI student in Patna and the subsequent circulation of its video clip, NCW member incharge of the state, Charu Wali Khanna, slammed the police on Thursday, saying the suffering women’s complaints pointed to a “jungle raj” prevailing in Bihar.
Ms Khanna seemed unimpressed by DGP Abhayanand’s explanations about numerous complaints of police inaction in dealing with sex-related cri-mes. In the Patna gangrape case, the police are allegedly shielding an accused said to be a ruling party politician’s son.
Making matters worse both for the police and the government, nine girl students from three colleges in Rohtas district met Ms Khanna and said they had been facing sexual harassment since 2007 after their photos were morphed.
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SIMI sleeper cell found in C’garh
age correspondent
Raipur, Aug. 19
The Chhattisgarh police has detected sleeper cells of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), a banned fundamentalist outfit, following recent recovery of live bullets in garbage at different places in Raipur.
Police sources said several bullets neatly packed in cigarette packets were recovered accidentally at garbage dustbins at three places, one of them being right behind a police station, in the capital city recently. “The bullets were sent to ammunition testing laboratory at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh to find out where they were sourced from. Although it could not be confirmed so far from where the bullets were sourced, two arms manufacturers in India have denied to have made them. SIMI activists were found to be using such ammunitions,” a senior police officer said.