Raj free but violence cages public in Maharashtra and Bihar

MUMBAI/PATNA: MNS leader Raj Thackeray walked out a free man on Wednesday, making a mockery of the criminal justice system. But the fire of violence he ignited continued in Maharashtra.

Mobs in Patna ���retaliated��� by foolishly torching a train, vandalising railway stations and disrupting road and train traffic, leading to cancellation of all trains to and through Bihar.

Mr Thackeray received a hero���s welcome when he returned home after spending a day in police custody, with supporters celebrating like they were greeting the victorious Indian cricket team. Hundreds of supporters thronged his residence, Krishna Kunj, in the Shivaji Park area of Central Mumbai, and celebrated by bursting crackers after a court in Kalyan granted him bail.

���He is happy that he has been released from police custody and appealed to MNS activists to maintain peace,��� MNS general secretary Shishir Shinde said. But the disciplined cadre is yet to comply.

Mr Thackeray was arrested from Ratnagiri on Tuesday in connection with cases of assault registered against MNS activists for attacking north Indian candidates appearing for railway recruitment exams. Although a victim died on Tuesday and three others in post-arrest violence, the Maharashtra government is yet to see reason to book Mr Thackeray for murder.

The MNS leader spent the night in custody at the Manpada police station in neighbouring Dombivali and was produced before a magistrate���s court in Kalyan, where he was granted bail. On Tuesday, he was granted bail in a similar case by a court in Mumbai. Mr Thackeray was also granted interim relief by the court in a case where railway police sought his custody, after which he was released.

In brief, it was all around relief for Mr Thackeray on Wednesday but not for the public, either in Mumbai on Patna. Violence was reported from some areas of Mumbai; curfew effected normal life in and around the Kalyan court in Thane.

Elsewhere in Maharashtra, stray cases of violence were reported in Ahmednagar district where MNS workers targeted buses breaking window panes in Sangamner area and resorted to arson and stone pelting at several places.

In overnight violence in Thane, three persons including brother of a local MNS leader were killed, Thane Police Commissioner Anil Dhere said. The deaths were reported in the Pisoli village area in Kalyan on Tuesday night after a clash between two groups.

Miscreants torched an auto-rickshaw in the northern suburb of Dahisar and damaged another in suburban Ghatkopar. Services on the central railway was disrupted for some time when miscreants attempted to block tracks using a cement sleeper near Kalyan station.

In Patna, ���backlash��� against MNS attacks led to violence in Patna. Angry students torched a train, vandalised railway stations and disrupted road and train traffic, prompting police to fire in air. Hundreds of protesters descended on the Barh railway station in rural Patna demanding that Mr Thackeray be tried for sedition and set ablaze an AC coach of the Danapur-Durg south Bihar Express, superintendent of railway police (Patna) D N Gupta said. The fire spread to adjoining sleeper coaches, but no one was injured and not in the least any MNS worker.

Violence spread to other parts of the state, including Sasaram, the headquarters of Rohtas district, where police fired three rounds in the air to quell a group of stone-pelting students, who blocked the tracks since 5 am, superintendent of police Vikas Vaibhav said.

Agitators detached the engine of the Gaya-Patna passenger train at Jehanabad and smashed the window panes of a ticket counter on the platform. They also obstructed train traffic and blocked the road in front of the railway station. Protesters ransacked the Nawada railway station, damaging furniture and set a generator on fire.

Another round of violence can be expected at the time Mr Thackeray wants it. Until then, all the players in the violent drama and the supporting cast can rest after celebrations.