Nitish Kumar brushes aside 'jungle raj' barb over Gaya incident

The Bihar CM said that for him the meaning of 'rule of law' is not about who is committing a crime but what action is taken

Brushing aside Opposition barb of "return of jungle raj" in the wake of murder of a youth in Gaya allegedly at the hands a JD (U) MLC's son, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today asserted "rule of law prevails" in Bihar and culprit cannot escape the "long arms of law".

"(the jungle raj barb) is a subjective approach of the BJP. For them the person committing a crime is more important. But for me the incident is more significant irrespective of the person or his family's standing," said Kumar after the 'Janata ke Darbar me Mukhya Mantri' programme.

20-year-old Aditya Sachdeva was shot dead allegedly by Rakesh Ranjan Yadav alias Rocky Kumar Yadav, son of JD (U) MLC Manorama Devi, when the former overtook over the latter's SUV.

Giving details of the police action into the incident, Kumar said the accused's father Bindi Yadav and Manorama Devi's bodyguard were arrested soon after the incident. The bodyguard, a policeman, has been suspended.

"An SIT has been constituted and the police is on hot pursuit of the fugitive offender. The police is working independently without any influence from any quarter," he said.

Kumar was reacting to a question on BJP observing a bandh in Gaya today to protest against "return of jungle raj".

Seeking to turn the tables on BJP, he said, "What is happening in Delhi where police are under direct control of the Central government? Go through the latest data of National Crime Record Bureau to find out where Bihar stands in term of crime rate," he said.

Asked if action would be initiated also against JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi, the Chief Minister did not give a categorical answer but said "a thorough probe is on in the incident and nobody would be spared."

"How long can one run away from law whose arms are very long?" the CM said.

Kumar said for him the meaning of "rule of law" is not about who is committing a crime but what action is taken immediately in the case of any such event.

Expressing pain over the incident, the CM said, "Can anybody claim that there will be no single incident of crime. Criminal acts take place due to many reasons like mindset of the offenders or situation prevailing at the time of the act.