To each as per his clout is how the law applies in Bihar. While four students have been in jail for a month, charged with sedition for ‘‘trying to’’ wave black flags at Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, Laloo Prasad Yadav’s nephew Nagendra Rai is having a free-run after allegedly getting involved in two serious offences last week. In two FIRs in Patna last week, Rai has been charged with assaulting a police inspector on duty and leading a gang that attacked the house of Raghvendra Narayan Rai, Chairman of the Ambedkar Dental College. Ranjit Kumar, Keshari Kumar Yadav, Santhoshand Yadav and Sonu Kumar Yadav — all activists of the All India Students Association — are in jail for raising slogans against Advani. They have been charged under Sections 143/124 (A) and 120 (B) which include expressing contempt for the state and inciting disaffection against the state. According to the FIR filed by University Police Station Inspector L.N. Mishra, ‘‘seven-eight students were raising slogans and trying to show black flags to the Deputy Prime Minister.’’ The students were demanding a permanent mechanism for flood relief and were also protesting against Advani’s alleged role in the demolition of the Babri Masjid. ‘‘We managed to catch four of them,’’ says the FIR. ‘‘The protestors raised slogans like ‘Advani Go Back’. Prima facie, the inspector who field the FIR thought it invited sedition charges. We are investigating the matter,’’ Darbhanga SP Sunil Kumar said. Obviously, law acts differently for Rai. On September 11, Raghvendra Narayan Rai’s house was attacked by a group of people allegedly led by Rai. The FIR alleges that Rai had been threatening the chairman for money for quite some time. On Thursday, a group of over 24 armed men came to his house, damaged two cars and fired in the air several times, says the FIR. A few days before that, Inspector Mohammad Moqueem had filed an FIR against Rai for assaulting him at Patna Medical College. Rai had allegedly demanded the release of a suspect Moqueem has taken into custody. As far as the four students go, the police have not modified the FIR and they were rejected bail despite intervention by social workers. On September 10, Arundhati Roy, Rajendra Yadav, Sumit Chakravorty, Anand Patwardhan, Jawed Naqvi, Sripad Dharmadhikari and Praful Bidwai wrote to Chief Minister Rabri Devi demanding her intervention. On Saturday, several members of the Janwadi Lekhak Sangh demanded that the government withdraws the sedition charges. Expressing ignorance, RJD chief Laloo said he would examine the matter. ‘‘How does raising slogans attract sedition charges? Or waving black flags for that matter? We show black flags and we have been shown black flags,’’ Laloo said, adding he did not approve of the police move. Meanwhile, CPI (M-L) activists protesting the detention of the students barged into Darbhanga DM Pradeep Kumar’s chamber on Friday and 22 more were arrested, sent to jail. Despite repeated attempts Kumar was unavailable for comments. Meanwhile, as the Darbhanga district police are ‘‘consulting lawyers to examine whether showing black flags is constitutional democratic right or not,’’ Patna’s Sachivalaya DSP Arshd Zaman says: ‘‘Action will be taken against the accused’’ in the Rai case.
