In lawless Bihar, doctors are fast losing their fight against a different menace: kidnapping. On Saturday, leading neurosurgeon Dr Ramesh Chandra became the third physician to be kidnapped in the state in the past six months, barely 24 hours after a jewellery shop owner was abducted at gunpoint in Patna. Moving promptly, the Bihar chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has given notice for an indefinite strike beginning Wednesday morning. IMA office-bearer Dr Ajay said all services, including emergency care and private practice, will be stopped from Wednesday, ‘‘if he is not released by then’’. ‘‘We are giving a 48 hours notice because last time (when a doctor was abducted) the government complained we were too hasty,’’ he said. Dr Chandra was kidnapped at 10.45 pm when he was returning home after dinner at Dr Ajay’s place. Around 6 am today, someone called up his home and gave the location where his car was found abandoned. An IMA delegation will meet Chief Minister Rabri Devi and RJD Chief Laloo Prasad Yadav late tonight. Dr Ajay also appealed to the abductors to provide Dr Chandra with insulin and medicines for his heart ailments. ‘‘He is totally dependent on these, and denial can be fatal,’’ Dr Ajay said after the IMA emergency meeting. Chandra is the third doctor to be abducted since December 2002 when Dr Brijendra Mohan was abducted from Hajipur. In February, Dr Bharat Singh of Patna Medical College Hospital was taken away, leading to spontaneous strike of doctors. Both were released later and police believe ransom changed hands. ‘‘I don’t know whether ransoms were paid or not,’’ says Dr Ajay. In a year 12 doctors are abducted on an average in Bihar. The criminals target doctors with flourishing practice — like Dr Chandra, who, many say, was the best neurosurgeon in Bihar. More than 300 people are kidnapped every year in the state, according to police officials. In Patna city itself, two abductions took place in the past two days. High-profile kidnappings involve exchange of ransom running into crores of rupees, whereas in areas like Champaran, kidnappings are undertaken for a few hundreds of rupees. And the criminal-police-politician nexus is too obvious to miss — in the last fortnight alone, the names of two MLAs and one minister figured in different kidnapping cases. Police, predictably, say it is not a serious problem. ‘‘Kidnappings have not increased in recent years but they do take place. And we do take action against kidnappers even if politicians are involved,’’ claims Rithu Raj, Additional DGP of Bihar Police. But the political patronage enjoyed by kidnappers is a trifle too glaring. Recently, a doctor was kidnapped from Jharkhand and brought to Bihar. Those held in the case named Rama Singh, a Lok Janshakti MLA, among the conspirators, but Singh remains in the party and is absconding. Surendra Yadav, former minister and MLA from the ruling RJD, was named in an FIR relating to the abduction and torture of one Atul Prakash from Gaya. Yadav is absconding and lower courts have rejected his anticipatory bail, but he has not been thrown out of RJD. When Bihar’s most wanted contract killer and kidnapper, Sultan Mian, was arrested last week, he named Minister of State for Welfare Ejajul Haque as his ‘‘master.’’ And that just makes the police job more complex. ‘‘When arrested criminals name someone to the police, we cannot move based on that alone, because statements made to the police are not accepted as evidence,’’ explains Rithu Raj.
