Kidnapping industry continues to thrive
Dipak Mishra
[ 1 Feb, 2007 0244hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]


PATNA: Contrary to claims made by the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government
in Bihar that the law and order situation has improved, the kidnapping
industry continues to thrive in the state.

Figures received by the Patna High Court from district judges indicate
that there were about 1800 cases of kidnappings registered in Bihar in
2006 against 1697 kidnapping cases recorded in 2005.

Not surprisingly, the state Opposition parties have begun gunning for
the Nitish government. "During our regime, there were talks about a
nexus between kidnappers and politicians. The numbers have actually
increased. I wonder what leaders like deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, who
accused us of having a nexus with kidnappers, have to say about the
rise,"said RJD national general secretary Shyam Rajak.

Predictably, the government is on the defensive. "There are several
types of kidnappings such as kidnapping for murder and kidnapping for
forceful marriage. Despite this, there has been a definite down slide
in kidnapping for ransom. Previously a lot of cases were not
registered at police stations. Now nothing can be hidden,"said ADG
(HQs) Abhyanand.

Other senior police officers insist that the police reaction has also
to be taken into account. "We traced out two children in Khagaria
within two days of their kidnapping,"said a senior police official
while insisting that earlier the police rarely made any effort to
rescue kidnapped persons.

However, the people who have lost their near and dear ones due to
kidnapping appear to be losing their faith in the the men in khaki.

"Even in sushasan (good governance) one should expect the worst
whenever a kidnapping takes place,"said Usha Devi whose son Deepak, a
student of Central School in Patna, was kidnapped. Deepak's skeleton
was later recovered from the jungles of Koderma in Jharkhand.

"At times I feel like taking a gun and going out in search for the
kidnappers of my son myself,"said RAF jawan Arun Kumar.

Kumar's son Mukesh was kidnapped from Gaya last year. Despite paying
Rs one lakh as ransom money and even putting his case before the CM at
'Janata ka durbar', there has been no trace of the kidnapped Mukesh
yet.

A list of such harried parents is endless. A widow in Danapur too has
been petitioning various authorities for the safe return of her
kidnapped son.

"The police apparently have not done enough to trace and rescue
kidnapped persons. In the Nithari case also cases were registered but
the police failed to react. A similar situation exists in Bihar
too,"said M P Gupta, a lawyer who filed the PIL based on which the
Patna High Court asked for statistics from district judges.

The state government is now facing the heat as the high court has
asked it to recover 143 children and 581 women who are reported
missing in the state.

The court has also sough details of 44 kidnapped persons who have been
killed by their abductors so that a ompensation can be paid to their
kin.