Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said there is no law and order problem in Bihar.
Highlights
- Spate of high profile crimes took place over the last 3 months.
- Police say crime figures - murder and abduction - low in 2015.
- Nitish Kumar has denied there's any law and order problem.
For over two months, Jayanti Devi has been mourning her son. Mukesh Kumar, 42, a road engineer, was gunned down in Bihar's Darbhanga district in December. Another engineer was killed in the incident, which took place days after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar assumed office for a third term.
The two main accused are still absconding.
"So what if some people have been arrested? Have they caught the main accused? The killers need to hang," said Jayanti Devi, breaking into fresh tears.
Over the last three months, since the Grand alliance - Mr Kumar's JD-U, Lalu Prasad's RJD and the Congress -- came to power, there have been a spate of incidents that appear to have punctured the chief minister's good track record on law and order.
In February, an RJD lawmaker, who has since been suspended, was accused of raping a minor girl in Nalanda district. Raj Ballabh Yadav surrendered a few days ago, after being on the run for over a month.
The BJP, which lost the 2015 election, says it is not just high profile crime that's up in Bihar since Nitish Kumar broke their alliance in 2013. Shootings and kidnappings have been on the rise too.
"Look at all the big incidents. Have the main accused been caught? No they haven't. This is a big worry and totally condemnable," said BJP's Nand Kishore Yadav.
But police say as per data, 2015 had the lowest murder rate in the last 5 years. Abduction figure was also the lowest in 4 years.
Mr Kumar has only spoken once in the last three months on the issue, saying, "There is no law and order problem. There is a rule of law and the rule of law will prevail". But it is a claim that under severe strain in Bihar these days.