Aggressive Feminism?

But, at the inauguration of a seminar on the 8216;Status of Women in Society8217; in Gaya, concerns of Magadh University Vice-Chancellor Shamsad Hussain were 8216;8216;aggressive feminism8217;8217;. 8216;8216;Cautioning8217;8217; the girls against aggressive feminism, the V-C said 8216;8216;too much talk of oppression and gender discrimination8230;was proving to be counter-productive8217;8217;. The fact is that nobody is talking 8212; not even one per cent of the rapes get reported. A girl who dared to go to the police to complain of rape, was killed last month. No police action has been taken against the culprits so far. And all this happened in Chief Minister Rabri Devi8217;s constituency.

But V-C Hussain went on to say: 8216;8216;There are men who too are at the receiving end and these issues need a balanced approach.8217;8217; Thankfully, there were no demands for special laws to protect men from such torture!

Bihar is perhaps the only state where, till a few years ago, members of the Women8217;s Commission were men.

Securitymen 8216;threats8217;

The more the number of security guards that follow you, the more important a person you are. Both politicians and bureaucrats in Bihar stick by this thesis. However, more than providing security for the VIP, these guards become a security threat to the general public 8212; ministers8217; guards allegedly throw out passengers from train compartments too often; the guards of bureaucrats keep their masters safely insulated from the people and their problems.

K.C. Saha, senior IAS officer and chief electoral officer of Bihar, had a taste of a senior minister8217;s entourage on Monday. Patna8217;s zoo garden is where the city8217;s high and mighty go for walks. The minister8217;s guards jostled and virtually pushed away Saha from the track. 8216;8216;Mar ke mooh tod denge,8217;8217; they allegedly told him. And when Saha protested and said he was a senior officer, the minister intervened: 8216;8216;There are many senior officers, just get off the way.8217;8217; It was when Saha disclosed his identity and designation, that the minister was apologetic and allegedly called him seven times to say sorry later. What if it was an ordinary citizen?

A business called kidnapping

Interrogation of an abductor last week was educating for police officers in Patna. Anil Singh,wanted in 40 cases of kidnappings in UP, MP, Jharkhand and Bihar, was arrested last week and he virtually lectured interrogators on the 8216;8216;business8217;8217; of kidnapping. During his student days at BHU, he cultivated contacts, essentially caste-based, across states. After he began the 8216;8216;business8217;8217;, he was one step ahead of the contemporaries 8212; he would kidnap in one state, hide the hostage in another and hide himself in a third state to negotiate the ransom, making it difficult for police to trace him.

The advantages of this business over murder and theft, he explained to police, are that you don8217;t need to dispose of bodies and leave evidence nor do you have to convert stolen goods into money. Among his victims last year was Tirtha Prasad Gupta, industrialist and father of BJP MP from Satna. He was hidden in Aurangabad district at a BJP leader8217;s house!.

Criminals shift base with cops

Sudden disappearance of several gangsters and criminals puzzled Patna police initially. But now it has solved the mystery. After a massive reshuffle of junior police officials 8212; to check the police-criminal nexus, following HC directives 8212; the criminals too shifted bases to the new places where the inspectors who patronised them were transferred.