Violence in Bihar’s Patna, Kaimur and Muzaffarpur during Saraswati idol immersion

Source: hindustantimes.com

More than 12 people, including four policemen, were injured in brick batting and four vehicles were set on fire in the state capital Patna, according to officials.

Violence broke out in three separate districts of Patna, Kaimur and Muzaffarpur in Bihar during processions to immerse the idol of Goddess Saraswati late on Friday, officials said.

More than 12 people, including four policemen, were injured in brick batting and four vehicles were set on fire in the state capital Patna, according to officials.

Police said the clash started between students of the Patna University and locals in the Lalbagh area as residents allegedly chased them from the spot and they pelted stones at each other during the procession.

Another group of students later started firing and hurled bombs, which led to chaos in the surrounding areas. Bricks and stones were seen scattered on the Ashok Rajpath near Lalbagh after the violence.

Eyewitnesses said students ransacked several tea stalls, coaching institutes and a private eye-hospital during the violence.

The students, on their part, alleged they were attacked by the people of Lalbagh when they had gone to immerse the idol.

They said when students of Minto, Nutan and Jackson hostels reached Lalbagh area, residents started hurling stones and bombs at them. They then retaliated to the attack.

The brawl, which went on for more than two hours, left a sub-inspector, three constables, student Chandra Sekhar and a passersby injured. The injured policemen were admitted to Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) and others were referred to Nalanda Medical College & Hospital (NMCH).

Inspector general of police (Central Zone) Sanjay Singh, Patna district magistrate Kumar Ravi and senior superintendent of police (SSP) Upendra Sharma rushed to the spot with reinforcement and pacified the crowd. Police also used mild lathicharge to disperse the mob.

IG Sanjay Singh said Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel have been deployed to keep the situation in control. Sharma said preliminary investigation revealed that students of Minto and Saidpur hostels were involved in the firing and hurling bombs.

Reports from Kaimur said there was tension in a village after a group allegedly pelted stones at an idol, which was said to be damaged. After this, people from two communities indulged in brick batting and firing leading to the injury of a half dozen people.

Sub-divisional officer J Shukla said the situation is under control and additional police force deployed as a precautionary measure.

In Muzaffarpur, tension gripped BRA University after two groups clashed during idol immersion procession when students fired and pelted stones each and other. Many students were injured in the clash.

Muzaffarpur’s SSP Jayant Kant said the incident was a fallout of rivalry between two groups of students.

“Efforts are on to ascertain the identity of the attackers, who managed to escape after the incident,” Kant said.

The girl burnt alive lost the battle of life for want of justice, said 5 days ago – I will not survive.

Source – bhaskar.com

Patna. The girl, who was burnt alive, lost the battle of life for want of justice. He breathed his last late Monday. On December 7, in Ahiapur area of ​​Muzaffpur, the young woman was burnt by two accused after the rape attempt failed. On December 10, Patna was referred for better treatment. The victim knew that she would not survive. The evening of 11 December when he recorded the statement to the magistrate. Then said that I will not survive. Read the statement of the victim that was lodged with the magistrate. 

“I will not be saved now. Even if he survives, he (the accused) will not leave. He will kill me. There were two people who burned me. One is Raja. He is the son of Rajkishore Rai. The other boy I do not recognize.” The incident took place around 7 pm on Saturday evening (7 December). “

“Didi’s daughter came to my house. I was telling her Babu sit down. Then someone’s footsteps on the terrace. There is no door on the roof. When I went to the terrace there was no one there. Non-veg food was made on the roof. “There used to be a stove and kerosene oil. I started returning when one man poured kerosene on me and the other set fire to the matchbox.”

“I was dressed in nylon, which caused the fire to spread quickly and I was engulfed in flames. The water tank is stored under the roof on the roof. I started to wallow in the same water to escape. I got wet with water , But the fire was not extinguished. My whole body burned. “

“After burning, both the accused took me on a bike and took me to Indra Hospital in Muzaffarpur. I did not admit there. After that I was taken to two-three places, but no hospital did admit. After that I was taken to a hospital threw away.”

“An accused king had been following me since the 12th. He wanted to marry me, but I did not approve of it. He used to threaten me. I would have stopped walking the road and made dirty abuses. He had said that if his mother I will drag him and kill him. “

“When I told my mother about the incident happening to me, she snatched my mother’s bag. My mother went to her father Rajkishore Rai to complain about Raja. Rajkishore said that I cannot do anything. If you want to go, then go. I went to the Ahiyapur police station (Muzaffarpur) with my mother seeking protection. The Shoedar did not register my complaint instead of doing anything against the king and said that such Don’t mess with Gon. “

“The king followed me. When I did not talk, he abused me profusely. I knew that if I did not talk, he would kill my family. Even then I did not talk. Ko also knew the CO of the NCC living in the area. The CO Sir asked who bothers Lafanga. “

Bihar: Woman burnt after failed rape bid, admitted to hospital with 80% burn.

Source – indiatoday.in

A woman was admitted to a hospital in Muzaffarpur on Sunday after she was allegedly set ablaze by a man who had attempted to rape her but failed.

The victim sustained 80 per cent burn when she was admitted to Shri Krishna Medical College and Hospital in Muzaffarpur.

Police are investigating the matter.

After the rape and murder incidents in Unnao and Hyderabad that sparked anger across the nation, several other cases of victim being set on fire by rapists have come in light.

In Hyderabad, a 26-year-old veterinary doctor was smothered, raped and then burnt by four men late at night on November 27 and her charred body was found the next day under a culvert on the Hyderabad-Bengaluru national highway. The four accused in the case were killed on early Friday by the Telangana police in a ‘retaliatory’ firing when they were taken to the crime spot for recreation.

Soon after, the Unnao rape victim was was also set on fire by five men, including the two accused of raping her in December last year. The woman had sustained 90 per cent burn and lost her life in hospital on Friday.

Four days back, a 35-year-old woman alleged that four men namely Aarif, Shahnawaz, Sharif and one more person entered her home in Shahpur village in Kaserawa, Uttar Pradesh and threw acid on her. The victim was rushed to the hospital where she was admitted for medical assistance and was discharged on the same day. On Sunday she threatened to end her life if justice is not served, news agency ANI reported.

The rising in such incidents of rape and murder has triggered nationwide protests where activists and students have come out in large numbers demanding justice for the victims and trial in a fast-track court.

Toxic Air Leads to Increase in Cases of Respiratory Diseases in Bihar.

Source – weather.com

Persistently high pollution levels in Bihar have led to an increase in the cases of respiratory diseases, especially chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), across the state, according to a report in the Times of India.

As per the data released by the Bihar state health society, the cases of acute respiratory illness (ARI) in the state have increased from over 2 lakhs in 2009 to 11 lakhs in 2018.

Patna has consistently been among the most polluted cities in India. In fact, the current pollution levels in the capital of Bihar stand as a testimony to the persistent issue of deteriorating air quality.

On Tuesday (December 3) as well, the state capital was the most polluted city in the country, according to the daily AQI bulletin by the Central Pollution Control Board. The city has recorded an overall AQI of 380, which lies in the ‘very poor’ category. It is followed by Muzaffarpur, another city from Bihar, with an AQI of 336.

The rest of the positions in the top half are occupied by Uttar Pradesh-based Varanasi (335), Ghaziabad (326) and Kanpur (316). AQIs between 301 and 400 are all classified as ‘very poor’, and CPCB says that prolonged exposure to such pollution levels can cause respiratory illness.

Between April 1 and November 4 this year, 246 cases of respiratory illnesses were reported across four major hospitals of the city, viz. PMCH, NMCH, IGIMS and AIIMS-Patna. Out of these cases, the maximum were from the district of Patna (165), followed by Vaishali (17), Nalanda (14), Bhojpur (6), Saran (5), Begusarai (5) and other districts.

In an attempt to improve the air quality across the state, the government of Bihar has reportedly proposed a ban on the movement of state-owned vehicles that are more than 15 years old. The restriction could also be extended to commercial vehicles, but only for the Patna metropolitan area.

The state cabinet is expected to give its approval to the proposal as well, by Wednesday, December 4.

Patna Air Turns ‘Severe’; Supreme Court Issues Notice to All States on Pollution.

Source – weather.com

In an unprecedented step, the Supreme Court issued a notice to all Indian states and Union Territories on Monday, seeking their response on why they should not be held accountable to pay compensation to people for not providing clean air.

Even on the day of the hearing on air pollution, November 25, two cities from the state of Bihar recorded the highest AQIs as reported in the Daily Air Quality Index (AQI) Bulletin by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Patna was the most polluted city in the country with ‘severe’ 24-hour average AQI of 404.

Are authorities neglecting environmental issues in cities?

In a three-hour hearing, a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra and comprising Deepak Gupta said: “The AQI is extremely poor in many cities and towns. We also need to know how they are managing garbage. It appears that these issues have lost priorities for the authorities.”

Pollution levels in the country, particularly in the northern half of the state, consistently rise during the post-monsoon season. While the air quality worsens in almost all the regions, some states and union territories have persistently recorded the poorest air quality since the past few years.

Delhi, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Punjab are some of the regions where unhealthy air has lately become the norm.

Eastern cities most polluted on Monday

Patna and Muzaffarpur were the most polluted cities on Monday with AQI values of 404 (severe) and 393 (very poor) respectively. They were followed by West Bengal’s Howrah (329) and Asansol (324).

While the entire Indo-Gangetic plain is often the most polluted region in the country mainly due to geographic and meteorological reasons, so far this season, northwestern cities from Delhi NCR and Haryana had remained the most polluted cities. On Monday, only cities from Bihar and West Bengal remained the most polluted with ‘very poor’ air quality.

Bhiwadi (Rajasthan), Lucknow and Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh), Jorapokhar (Jharkhand), Vapi (Gujarat) and Narnaul (Haryana) occupied the rest of the spots on the list of top 10 most polluted cities.

Endangering right to life

Apart from air pollution levels, the bench also pointed out the emerging issue of unavailability of clean drinking water in many cities and towns. “Yamuna river has turned into sewage. River Ganga is also in the same condition. River water pollution is a major issue,” said the court.

SC observed that the right to life has been endangered by the states due to lack of response on most pressing issues.

“We have noted that every year, and year after year, the process is worsening…time has come to protect the right to life. Why should they (state administrations) not pay compensation on air pollution, not lifting garbage etc.? Time has come to rewind the state machinery,” said Justice Mishra.

Bihar: In a weird decision, panchayat in Muzaffarpur asks woman to ‘sell’ baby.

Source – nationalheraldindia.com

A panchayat in Bihar has allegedly accused a pregnant 15-year-old girl for her being raped and ordered the baby to be sold off and the money handed to her as “compensation”. She had accused two men of repeatedly raping her.

The alleged ruling of Community panchayat at Muzaffarpur’s Katra surfaced after the girl, mustered the courage to approach the police. The 15-year-old is the daughter of a labourer.

A first information report (FIR) has been registered at Muzaffarpur’s all-women police station and raids are being conducted to arrest the accused: Maulana Maqbool and Muhammad Shoaib.

According to a report in The Telegraph, Muhammad Sadre, a member of the Katra Masjid Committee said, “The issue had been raging in our community panchayat since the beginning of this year when the minor girl sought justice from it for being raped.”

“She gave birth to a child last month. However, our panchayat held her responsible for her plight. It ordered that the baby be sold off and the money received given to her.”

“As far as I know, negotiations were held with a family in Tajpur, in nearby Samastipur district, and the baby was to be sold to them for ₹1 lakh. I could not intervene and don’t know whether the baby has been sold,” he said.

Mukhiya of the elected Katra panchayat, Arun Kumar has said that the girl had approached him to intervene and secure justice for her.

“I told her that such crimes cannot be settled by a panchayat and advised her to go to the police. I also told her where she could get an application written for the police,” Kumar said.

“However, she chose to approach the mosque committee, which held its own panchayat a couple of times to settle the issue,” he added.

Mukhiya had no clear answer why he had not taken the girl to the police himself.

After Katra panchayat blamed her and ordered the baby to be sold, the teenage girl approached the local police, who directed her to the district women’s police station.

According to the report in the Telegraph, an officer at the women’s police station said that various families of Katra used to send food to Maulana Maqbool, who stayed at the local mosque. Sometimes the families sent the girl to deliver food to him.

The official at the police station alleged that one day Maqbool gave her some drug-laced sweets and raped her after she passed out.

“Her ordeal continued for around two months. The accused blackmailed her and threatened to kill her. Later, a local youth, Shoaib, came to know about the situation and he too started raping her.”

Savita Devi, the officer in charge of the women’s police station, said the girl had “come to us when all the other doors had been shut to her”.

“We have registered a case under the relevant penal code sections and also under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act,” she said.

“We raided the village thrice but could not find the accused. We will put up posters about the accused.”

Senior officers said a DNA test was being considered to identify the biological father of the newborn.

NCW chief to meet Nitish Kumar, Bihar DGP as Muzaffarpur ‘horror home’ inmate is raped

Source: theprint.in

New Delhi: National Commission for Women (NCW) chief Rekha Sharma will meet Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the state’s director general of police (DGP) to discuss the alleged rape last week of a former inmate of the Muzaffarpur shelter where an abuse scandal was uncovered last year.

Sharma told ThePrint that she and her team will visit the state Thursday to take up the increasing incidence of crime in Bihar with the DGP and the CM.  

The 18-year-old victim had been living with her family since July last year, after leaving the shelter for destitute women where dozens of inmates were allegedly subjected to sexual abuse. She was reportedly on her way to a relative’s house in Bihar’s West Champaran district last Friday when four men pulled her into an SUV and raped her.

A video of the victim, seen in a niqab, detailing the crime has since gone viral. Latest reports suggest four arrests have been made in connection with the case.

Sharma said she will meet the teenager who had suffered the “horrific incident”.

“First, she suffered in the shelter home, then she had to go through this harassment… What kind of protection is she being given?” Sharma added.

“The NCW has been receiving increasing complaints from Bihar about violence against women — something needs to be done about this,” she said.

“I think the primary reason behind this is police apathy in the state. They don’t take women seriously, they unnecessarily delay filing the FIR,” she told ThePrint. “I will discuss all these matters with the state’s DGP.”

The Muzaffarpur shelter home

The Muzaffarpur sexual abuse scandal came to light after the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) found in an audit that over 30 girls had been allegedly raped and assaulted at a state-funded shelter for destitute women and girls. Shelter owner Brajesh Thakur, who also ran a newspaper, has since been jailed.

In February 2019, the Supreme Court ordered the case to be transferred from Bihar to a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in Delhi.

Two Bihar doctors, punished for operating patient’s gall bladder instead of leg, cry foul

Source: hindustantimes.com

Two government doctors in Bihar have been penalised for extricating a patient’s gall bladder instead of performing a surgery on her leg, eight years after the incident. Both the doctors indicted in a departmental inquiry said they would challenge the government order–issued on Friday– in court.

While one of the two doctors has since superannuated, the other is serving in the Bihar health services.

The government has deducted 10 per cent pension of Dr Nand Kishore Mishra, the then assistant professor of surgery at the Sri Krishna Medical College Hospital (SKMCH), Muzaffarpur and stopped three annual increments of Dr Krishna Kumar, the then senior resident of the department of anaesthesiology at the hospital, with retrospective effect, said principal secretary, health Sanjay Kumar.

Kumar said the administrative action will send a clear message to all healthcare providers in Bihar.

Sushila Devi, spouse of Shiv Narayan Prasad of Bahbal Bazar village in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district was to be operated for burn injury in her leg at the SKMCH on September 10, 2011, but the doctors ended up removing her gall bladder.

Dr Mishra said he neither treated Sushila Devi nor operated upon her and was penalised simply because the doctor who performed the surgery was in his unit. He called it a case of mistaken identity due to confusion created by the patient herself, and failure on part of the operation theatre staff and nurse to detect it.

“Dr HN Bharadwaj, the-then associate professor and also the head for SKMCH’s department of surgery and I were doing surgeries in two parallel operation theatres (OTs) on the fateful day. When the OT nurse called out the name of one Kiran Devi, this woman, identified as Sushila Devi, presented herself in front of the OT nurse. When the nurse asked the patient if she was Kiran Devi, she nodded her head in affirmative,” he said.

Asked why the patient had agreed to being identified by a different name, Dr Mishra said, “This may have been out of fear of her surgery getting deferred the third time. Even the anaesthetist claimed the patient nodded in affirmative when he asked her if she was Kiran Devi, who was originally scheduled to be operated for gall bladder stone. I was all this while operating upon another patient with common bile duct problem while another doctor operated upon Sushila Devi’s gall bladder believing her to be Kiran Devi. Since the doctor who did the surgery belonged to my unit, I was held guilty for a surgery I never did.”

Dr Mishra superannuated from the government service last year and claimed he has since not got any pension.

Dr Krishna Kumar, now an associate professor and head, department of anaesthesiology, SKMCH, too, felt he was not at fault.

“A senior resident of surgery department, who brought Sushila Devi to me, but with papers of Kiran Devi requested me to sedate her for surgery of the gall bladder. Even if the patient required surgery of the lower limb and not the gall bladder, my job was only to sedate the patient and ensure there was no complication arising out of anaesthesia. I did my job with sincerity and the patient recovered out of anesthesia and is absolutely hale and hearty. There were two surgeons who should have checked what surgery was to be performed. I am not at fault and will challenge the government order in court,” said Dr Kumar.

Interestingly, the doctor who is alleged to have performed the surgery, a senior resident then, has been let off after he denied having performed the surgery while deposing before the inquiry committee.

Kamla Kumari, the nurse, who called out the patient and brought her to the doctor, has already been penalised with stoppage of her four annual increments. She blamed the patient Sushila Devi for the case of mistaken identity.

Bihar: Family Of Four Dies Of Asphyxiation Inside Septic Tank

Source: thewire.in

Muzaffarpur: Four persons of a family died of asphyxiation inside a newly-constructed septic tank at a village in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district on Tuesday, an official said.

The incident occurred at Madhuban Kanti village under Bara Bharti panchayat of Minapur block this morning when a man, who went to remove the scaffolding of the newly-built septic tank, fell into it accidentally, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (East) Kundan Kumar said.

He died of suffocation after inhaling toxic gas. Another three persons of the family, who rushed to save the first one, entered the tank and also died of asphyxiation, Kumar added.

The deceased were identified as Madhusudan Sahni, Kaushal Kumar, Dharmendra Sahni and Veer Kumar Sahni, he said adding that all of them could be in the age group of 30-35. The bodies were sent to Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital here for postmortem.

Minapur Circle officer Gyan Prasad Srivastava announced that an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh would be paid to the next of kin of those died in the incident.

Worry within RJD as Tejashwi Yadav stays away from action

Source: indianexpress.com

The meeting of RJD’s legislature party was cancelled on Saturday, reportedly because Leader of Opposition in Assembly Tejashwi Yadav was not going to attend it. This comes a day after former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi said on Friday that Tejashwi would attend the meeting on Saturday. On Friday, 66 of the party’s 81 MLAs attended the meeting.

Tejashwi has been mostly missing from the political scene after the Lok Sabha results in which the RJD drew a blank. He attended the just-concluded Assembly proceedings only for a couple of days, but did not take part in any debate. He also skipped the recent function of the RJD regarding its campaign to get new members.

He has, however, been active on Twitter. He recently criticised the state government for the deaths of children in Muzaffarpur and Vaishali because of the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome and over its handling of the flood situation.

A section of RJD leaders are concerned with Tejashwi’s “growing disinterest” in state politics. An RJD source said, “He wants to be in full control of the party but he is not being allowed to do so. He has been upset at his elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav’s intermittent acts of defiance. He is also unhappy with some senior leaders blaming him solely for the party’s defeat. He wants his family to set things in order before he takes over reins of the party with full interest.”

Tej Pratap, who has floated apolitical forum Lalu Rabri Morcha, has been constantly throwing a challenge to Tejashwi’s leadership. “Though Tej Pratap might not have much support beyond the youth wing leaders of the party, his actions can embarass the party,” said a senior RJD leader.

An RJD leader said the rout in the Lok Sabha polls has dampened the morale of the party. “Tejashwi is not being able to take senior leaders along and to inspire confidence in the workers at the grassroots. His current silence is harmful for the alliance too. Congress is already talking about going alone in the Assembly polls,” said the leader.

While Rabri Devi allayed apprehensions of any split in the party during the meeting on Friday, senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh spoke about how the alliance with RLSP, Vikasshil Insaan Party and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) did not benefit the RJD.

Party spokesperson Mrityunjay Tewari said, “The party meeting on Saturday had to be cancelled because of unavoidable reasons. Not much should be read into it.”