RJD uses govt data to stress how crime has risen sharply in Bihar

New Delhi: Crime figures available with the Bihar police reveal that the total number of crimes in the state rose by a whopping 42% last year compared to 2016 with a sharp rise in murders and rapes. This official data is being used by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) to question the law and order scenario in Bihar since Nitish Kumar joined hands with the BJP in 2017 to form a new government.

The crime trajectory in the first six months of this year is similar to that in 2019.

While Nitish Kumar is reminding people of the jungle-raj under the Lalu Prasad regime before 2005, Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD has made law and order the centrepiece of his campaign, along with highlighting the unemployment in the state. “The state’s own figures show that Nitish Kumar has failed as the home minister as well and he is directly responsible,” RJD spokesman Nawal Kishore said.

The police figures show that against 1.89 lakh crimes reported in the state in 2016, 2.69 lakh crimes were reported last year and 1.23 lakh have already been reported till June this year. Murders have correspondingly risen by 20% from 2,581 in 2016 to 3,138 last year and 1,497 till June this year while rapes have risen almost 44% from 1,008 in 2016 to 1,450 last year and 676 this year till June.

Robberies have risen by almost 70% from 1,410 in 2016 to 2,399 last year. “Bihar has seen heinous crimes like the Muzzafarpur child shelter sexual abuse case and Gopalganj killings,” Kishore said.

Nitish Kumar has countered this by citing the National Crime Records Bureau report-2018 saying that going by crime rate, Bihar ranks far lower than other states.

“With a crime rate of 222 per lakh population, Bihar ranked 23rd in the country in incidents of crime. Bihar’s ranking is 33rd in rapes, 23rd in kidnapping and 11th in murders. Majority of the crime in Bihar happens due to land disputes,” Nitish Kumar said earlier this week during his first virtual rally.