SC verdict on Shahabuddin a slap on Nitish government, says LJP

The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) on Friday said the Supreme Court decision to cancel the bail of former Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Member of Parliament Mohammad Shahabuddin is a slap on the Bihar government.

"I think it is a tight slap on the so called "sushasan" (Good governance) of our Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Repeatedly, he talks about "sushasan" and we have seen that in his working period, only criminals like Shahabuddin gets bail so easily," LJP leader Chirag Paswan told ANI.

Paswan said the decision is a step towards making Bihar a crime free state.

"I think in a way, the court has set a precedent that in coming days all culprits of the JDU also will have to face equal trials. So, I think, it is a good decision taken by the court, and we have always favoured that, and we dream of having a crime free Bihar. This decision is a strong steps towards that," he added.

Janata Dal United (JDU) leader Ali Anwar said the efforts of Bihar government have put, a criminal like Shahabuddin back in jail again. This exposes the false allegations of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government.

An apex court division bench, headed by Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghosh and Justice Amitava Roy, set aside the order of the Patna High court, which had granted bail to Shahabuddin and ordered that he must be taken into custody immediately.

Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, had argued that Shahabuddin did not follow any rules and had walked out of jail at will on many occasions.

The top court had on September 19 issued a notice to Shahabuddin while hearing pleas of the Bihar Government and Chandrakeshwar Prasad against the bail granted to him.

The Bihar Government had earlier filed an appeal before the apex court challenging the Patna High Court's order of granting bail to Shahabuddin.

The petition was filed by Bhushan on behalf of the victim's family, which was upset to see Shahabuddin walk free.

Shahabuddin, who had been in jail for more than 10 years in connection with multiple cases, was granted bail by the Patna High Court on September 7 in connection with the murder of a man who witnessed the killing of two brothers in Siwan.

Shahabuddin's release from jail evoked widespread criticism of the grand alliance in the state with the opposition accusing the government of paving way for his release by not opposing the bail strongly in the court.