"It is better that the police machinery be wound up as it has failed to check the collapse of law and order in Bihar."
-Patna High Court, on October 4

PICTURE SPEAK

PROTEST VOICE: Schoolchildren in Patna

The badlands of Bihar are readying to face assembly elections for a second time in eight months, but seldom does the talk centre on the next government or possible winners and losers. Across the state, there is just one name that is the dominant theme. And that is Gaurav Kumar alias Golu, a Class IV student who was kidnapped in Danapur on September 20 on his way back home from school. His whereabouts remain unknown. The High Court was moved enough to intervene. On September 28, it summoned state DGP Ashish Ranjan Sinha and asked him to rescue the kidnapped boy in two days. The deadline was later extended twice. On Gandhi Jayanti, about 2,000 students in Patna held peace marches before converging for a prayer meeting at the DAV school where Golu was a student.

PICTURE SPEAK

HOT ISSUE: A protesting student fainted in front of the Raj Bhawan

Such is the anguish that last week the High Court put a one-line poser to the administration: "Is it a crime to be born in Bihar? This is not the question of one child. Tell us how can children go to school and pursue studies safely?" The administration did not have an answer but Bihar Public School Association Chairman R.S. Sharma says, "Parents are worried and students frightened. What kind of education do you impart in such an atmosphere?"

The kidnapping of the nine-year-old son of a businessman on the outskirts of the state capital is now a hot election issue. While most political leaders linked the kidnapping of children to the election, Nitish Kumar, NDA's chief ministerial candidate, ruled this out saying it was part of the booming kidnapping-for-ransom industry in the state. It could not be checked, says Kumar, during the eight-month-long president rule because the administration under Governor Buta Singh was an extension of Lalu-Rabri's "Jungle Raj". RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav retorted that the administration was now in the hands of the Election Commission, which had shunted out officials eager to stamp out criminals, many of whom had links with the NDA and the Lok Janshakti Party.

ABDUCTION FILE

JULY 27, 2004: Aishwarya Prasad kidnapped. NOVEMBER 4, 2004: Sweta abducted. JANUARY 19, 2005: Kislay, released 13 days later. JANUARY 24: Ravi Kant, released five days later. JANUARY 24: Deepak Kumar, released seven days later. JANUARY 25: Sumit Kumar, released four days later. JANUARY 26: Ranjan Kumar, released three days later. SEPTEMBER 20: Gourav Kumar, not yet found. SEPTEMBER 21: Kishore Kunal, released 12 days later. SEPTEMBER 22: Chandan Kumar, still missing.

Such charges and counter charges are nothing new in Bihar, but what has shocked the ordinary citizen is the trend witnessed since the previous elections were announced. Minors were increasingly targeted by kidnappers. As Sachchindra Narayan of AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies says, "The politically connected criminals wanted to create an atmosphere of terror and panic on the eve of the polls. Children became soft targets as their parents would do anything for their safe return."

Police are mystified that Golu's father Anil Singh has so far not received any ransom call. The police believe that the criminals have perfected a modus operandi: pick up the victims, fix a price depending on the financial status of parents and then sell them off to powerful inter-state gangs. A kidnapped child does not stay with those who abducted him for long and is passed on to other criminals at a new location. Police believe that Golu was kidnapped by a gang, which under pressure "sold" him to another gang that is keeping him in hiding outside the state. Official statistics reveal that during the first five months of governor's rule (March-July 2005) 18 schoolchildren were abducted. In the corresponding period last year 44 schoolchildren were abducted and released after hefty ransoms were paid by their parents.

PICTURE SPEAK

STILL MISSING : Golu

In Bihar, a number of mafia dons who have entered politics and become members of Parliament and Legislative Assembly, including Mohammad Shahabuddin, Pappu Yadav, Rama Singh, Munna Shukla, Dhumal Singh, Rajan Tiwary and Suraj Bhan, have been operating like godfathers, controlling a well-knit "syndicate" to run crime factories. Of all the crimes, kidnapping for ransom was the safest business as victims' families avoided reporting to the police. The gangs first started targeting wealthy farmers. Later they found that kidnapping and extortion of doctors, engineers, contractors and businessmen was more lucrative.

Shaibal Gupta of Asian Development Research Institute calls the booming crime and kidnapping business the "Bihari model of development", which is the result of the state's stagnant economy. "More the stagnation, more the kidnapping-for-ransom," he says. However, the imposition of President's rule and tough talk by Governor Buta Singh had initially generated some hope for law and order in Bihar. Immediately after taking office Singh had asked the police administration to either perform or perish. Such orders had an instant impact: the number of cases of kidnapping for ransom had dropped from 396 in 2002 to 96 in 2005 (till May).

However, lawlessness continues to haunt the state. Politicians have got a hot issue for the coming elections, but children who should have been studying and having fun in school are more likely to be seen in temples, praying for Golu's return.

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