Lynching: Bihar Govt admits police lapse

After a marathon meeting, the Nitish Kumar Government on Saturday admitted that police laxity led to the lynching of 10 thieves in Rajapakar

After a marathon meeting, the Nitish Kumar Government on Saturday admitted that police laxity led to the lynching of 10 thieves in Rajapakar village of Vaishali district but said action would be taken only after a CID probe report was received.

“Prima facie failure of the local police is clear. However, the Government has decided to wait for the probe report to take action against the guilty officials”, Principal Home Secretary Afzal Amanullah said. He said two officers—ADG (CID) Yashwant Malhotra and IG (Headquarters) Anil Sinha have sought seven to 10 days to submit their final report. Amanullah said preliminary probe had shown that officer-in-charge of Rajapakar never used to meet the locals and hear their problems while inspection of the police station was not carried out by the Deputy SP.

That the Government was trying to avoid taking any harsh steps became evident from the fact that on Saturday it decided to impose collective fines in case of such incidents, but kept Rajapakar out of its purview. “The Government has decided to impose a community fine of up to Rs 5,000 per family in the future to refrain people from taking the law into their own hands,” Amanullah said.

About Rajapakar, Amanullah said a number of villagers had fled fearing police action. He said efforts were on to identify those guilty of lynching the 10 alleged thieves and underlined that strong action would be taken against them. The police have already lodged a murder case against 300 unknown villagers of Rajapakar.

On Saturday, a four-hour-long meeting of top police and administrative officers was held at the CM’s residence, to take stock of policing in the state in the light of the lynching incident. The Government also decided to identify and rehabilitate the families of the 10 killed.

The Home Secretary said those found guilty of laxity have been given three months time to mend their ways or face the music. He said a reshuffling of lower rung policemen—posted for more than two years at one place—would be undertaken soon. During the meeting it was found that some junior officials had managed to return to their original place of posting by bluffing their superiors.