Tag: Bihar police

  • Bihar Police Bill: Amid Opposition protests, officials ally fears on new law

    By PTI
    PATNA: Senior civil and police officials on Thursday sought to clarify the doubts on provisions and purpose of bringing Bihar Special Armed Police Bill, 2021 which faced vociferous protests from the opposition in both houses of the state legislature.

    The opposition had created a rumpus against the legislation when it was taken up in the assembly Tuesday following which police was called in to physically evict legislators who had laid siege to the Speakers chamber and left the House in utter chaos and disorder.

    A similar situation prevailed in the legislative council Wednesday.

    The bill was passed by majority votes in both houses amid a boycott of the opposition.

    Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Chaitanya Prasad along with Director General of Police (DGP) S K Singhal and DGP (Bihar Military Police) R S Bhatti held a press conference to dispel confusion with regard to the legislation and its provisions and purpose.

    The officials’ press conference is being held in view of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s assertion made in the Assembly on March 23 while giving reply to a debate on the bill that such a situation (of confusion with regard to bill) would not have arisen, had the officials explained everything in detail by holding press meet.

    The bill aims to develop the Bihar Military Police (BMP) into a well-trained and fully equipped armed police force with multi-domain expertise to cater to the development needs and the larger interest of the state, Prasad said in an official release.

    The BMP has been entrusted with the security of vital installations, the world-famous Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya, Airport at Darbhanga etc, Prasad said.

    Stating that Bihar is a rapidly developing state with the need for security of industrial and commercial establishments, the state government notified two military police battalions on the lines of the CISF in the year 2017, he said.

    “It is now necessary to give requisite powers of search and arrest to the military police battalions engaged in the security of notified establishments on the lines of CISF.

    “The deployment of such armed police units will help the state to attract capital investment, promote industrial development; protect and safeguard the places of historical and cultural importance and tourism etc”, Additional CS said.

    Underlining the dependence of the state on the central armed police forces (CAPFs) has increased in the last decade, the number of companies of CAPFs deployed in Bihar has increased from 23 in the year 2010 to 45 in the year 2020, the official said.

    He further said that the organized development of an armed police force of the state will reduce this dependence, and thereby lessen the economic burden on the state and at the same time create employment opportunities for local residents.

    In view of the changing work profile of the force, new duties and powers given to it by this bill and to ensure uniformity with the nomenclature of Armed Police Forces of other States, the Bihar Military Police has been renamed as Bihar Special Armed Police (BSAP), the release said.

    On the most controversial clause of the Act that deals with the issue of “arrest and search without warrant”, the Additional Chief Secretary said two battalions of BMP namely State Industrial Security Force (SISF) 1 and SISF 2 are being raised for security of notified establishments on the pattern of CISF.

    This bill allows for search and arrest without warrant by a Special Armed Police officials engaged in the protection of such notified premises like Mahabodhi temple and Darbhanga airport, he said.

    He made it clear that the powers of search and arrest without a warrant are already available to the district police (in their jurisdiction) in all states as per provisions of section 41, 1D5 etc. of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

    This legislation, however, gives such powers of search and arrest without warrant to the Special Armed Police officers only for the purposes of security of notified premises.

    The objective of giving such powers is to prevent the occurrence of cognizable crimes in such notified premises and to protect the life and property within such establishment, the release said while quoting the official.

  • Cop, liquor smuggler killed in Bihar

    Express News Service
    PATNA: Two persons, including an additional sub-inspector and an alleged liquor smuggler, were killed in an exchange of fire on Wednesday in Bihar’s Sitamarhi district.

    A rural watchman was critically injured in the incident, police said. 

    Liquor sale is banned in Bihar since 2016.Police sources said the incident took place when a team of Mejorganj police went to raid a hideout of liquor-smugglers. 

    In the exchange of fire, sub-inspector Dinesh Ram, 45, and the alleged liquor smuggler, Ranjan Singh, 35, were killed while guard Lal Babu Paswan sustained bullet injuries.

    Dinesh Ram was a resident of East Champaran district. Police sources said the injured chowkidar had been admitted to a hospital. 

    Prohibition Minister Sunil Kumar said liquor smugglers had panicked and were resorting to violence. He told the media that the police will arrest all those involved in the firing.

  • Bihar court gives death penalty to man for raping, murdering 9-year-old girl

    Express News Service
    PATNA: A local court of Bihar’s Gopalganj district gave death penalty to a man, on Saturday, accused of raping and murdering a 9-year-old girl. The court completed the trial within six months of the case being lodged.

    On August 25, the Sidhwalia police of Gopalganj recovered the minor’s body in a gunny bag from the house of the main suspect, Jai Kishor Shah, at Bakhraur village, 140 km away from Patna. 

    After the victim’s body was recovered, Jai Kishor Shah ran away from the his village.

    The rape took place when the victim went to play in the neighbourhing house. When the parents of the girl could not find their daughter, they along with the other villagers conducted a search. The villagers suspected something was wrong as a foul smell lingered around Shah’s house though it was closed from outside.

    The villagers broke open shah’s house and found blood stains in a steel box, inside which the victim’s body was found wrapped in a gunny bag. The accused was arrested by the police.

    Shah, an alcoholic, was named in the FIR lodged under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code and POCSO.

    According to ADG (HQ) Jitendra Kumar, the police completed the investigation very quicky and placed the case for a speedy trial.

    Bihar police lodged 1,330 rape cases in 2020, 1,450 rape cases in 2019 and 1,475 in 2018.

  • Bihar cops, including three IPS officers, to get national awards

    By Express News Service
    PATNA: Three officers of Indian Police Service (IPS), besides  three junior cops, have been selected this year also  to be awarded with  the Internal Security Service Medals and the Home Minister’s Medals respectively for outstanding services in  duty.

    Rakesh Rathi, the Inspector General of Police of Magadh range, present Lakhisarai SP Sushil Kumar and Jamui ASP (operation) Sudhansu Kumar are the IPS officers, who would be awarded with the Internal Security Service Medals.

    ASP Sudhanshu Kumar, who worked for more than two years in Jamui district, has been selected for this medal for his outstanding service to control crime in the Naxal-affected area of Jamui district.  

    Under the leadership of Sudhanshu Kumar in Jamui district, the police forces have carried out many successeful operations due to which the Naxal organization has been weakened.

    The other three policemen selected for the Home Minister Medal this year for outstanding services are havaldar Bhogendra Mishra of Police Academy at Rajgir and constables Anuranjan Kumar and  Vipin Kumar Singh of CTC at Nathnagar in Bhagalpur.

    The Union Home Minister’s Medal, started in 2018, will be given to each of them by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

    Apart from this, Nathnagar police training centre in Bhagalpur district has been declared as the finest institution in the eastern region of the country. The Nathnagar Police Training Centre was evaluated by a team of senior cops of other states from 27 to 29 November in 2019 and selected as the best institute on the report of the evaluation.

  • Uttar Pradesh, Bihar have maximum police posts lying vacant

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal top the list of States having maximum vacancies in police departments.

    As per the latest report by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD), about 5.31 lakh posts, which is nearly 20 per cent of the sanctioned strength, are vacant at various levels in police departments across the country.

    Uttar Pradesh leads the list with 1.11 lakh vacant posts, which is nearly 27 per cent of the sanctioned strength of 4.15 lakh personnel.

    Significantly, nearly 93 per cent of the total 5.31 lakh vacant posts belong to subordinate levels (Sub-inspector and below).

    The data showed that over 4.93 lakh vacancies are among lower level posts including sub-inspector, head-constable and constable. This is significant given the fact that these are the officials involved in policing at ground level.

    Importantly, comparison of 2019 and 2020 data disclosed that vacancies have only increased over the years from 5.28 lakh in 2019 to 5.31 lakh in 2020. Issues of overburdened police and long working hours have been raised in the courts many a time.

    While hearing a petition which claimed that law and order situation in the country was deteriorating due to a large number of vacancies in police services, the Supreme Court had observed in a August 2017 order that, “If police vacancies are filled up, it will help in dealing with several law and order problems. You need to fill up the vacancies and do the recruitment in a time-bound manner.” 

    The BPRD report has also highlighted the disparity among states in the ratio between number of police personnel and population. While Bihar has the highest – one police official per 867 people, states like Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Haryana are at better positions with one police official per around 500 people. 

    West Bengal comes at second position with over 55,000 posts lying vacant against the total sanctioned strength of 1.53 lakh posts.

    Higher number of vacancies in states like UP and Bihar are a cause for concern as these two states report a large number of crimes. The latest NCRB data has disclosed that UP tops the chart with a total 6.28 lakh cases while Bihar has reported 2.69 lakh cases.

  • Deaf, mute 15-year-old gangraped, eyes damaged in Bihar

    By PTI
    MADHUBANI (Bihar): A 15-year-old deaf and mute girl has been allegedly gangraped in Bihar’s Madhubani district and her eyes were damaged with a sharp object so that she couldn’t identify the perpetrators, police said on Wednesday.

    Both her eyes were damaged but it is yet to be ascertained whether she has completely lost her eyesight, doctors attending to the girl, who is in a critical condition, said.

    Three persons have been arrested in connection with the incident that took place in Kauwaha Barhi village in Harlakhi police station area on Tuesday when she took her goats for grazing, Superintendent of Police Satya Prakash said, adding all the accused hail from the same village.

    Village head Ram Ekbal Mandal said that the girl had taken her goats for grazing to a field outside the village with some other children.

    One of the children informed the girl’s family about the incident.

    They found her lying unconscious in a barren field in neighbouring Manoharpur village.

    The girl was admitted to the nearby Umgaon community health centre, where doctors referred her to Madhubani Sadar Hospital given her critical condition, Harlakhi police station SHO Prem Lal Paswan said.