Bhagalpur mob fury doesn't infuriate Bihar govt

Prabhakar Kumar / CNN-IBN
1st Nov., 2007
Patna: The gory pictures of an alleged thief tied to a rope and being
dragged by a motorcycle on the streets of Bhagalpur in Bihar had
shocked India when they were first aired in August.

Bihar police had tried to enforce the law in Bhagalpur but what's more
shocking is that on Monday, the Human Rights panel of the state
Assembly decided to let the policemen off the hook. And the government
defends the decision.

"There is no fault of the policemen. It is right that the thief was
caught by a policeman and the matter was enquired," Bihar Urban
Development Minister, Ahwani Chawbey said.

However, the Opposition is up in arms and it intends to stall the
Assembly over the panel's report.

"If this report is tabled in the then we will take it up. We will not
allow such cases to happen. This incident is a blot on the state
government," Congress leader Ashok Chaudhary said.

Strangely enough, the state bureaucracy, too, seems reluctant to
accept the report.

"Both the policemen have been dismissed. Investigations are on and the
guilty will be brought to book," Bihar Home Secretary, Afzal Amanullah
said.

Even the police top brass defend the dismissal of the accused cops.
"We looked into the media footage. We also looked at the evidence,
which was available at that time and then we decided this course of
action. We have terminated the guilty from the service," Inspector
General (Headquarters) Anil Sinha said.

The clean chit to the policemen comes at a most inopportune time for
the state government, which is already under fire for rising incidents
of mob fury in Bihar.

With the Winter Session of the Assembly set to begin soon, a resurgent
Opposition intends to use this issue to score brownie points.