Politics has intensified in Bihar over recent remarks by the Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav, questioning police action and encounters involving criminals belonging to a particular caste.
File Photo: IANS
Politics has intensified in Bihar over recent remarks by the Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav, questioning police action and encounters involving criminals belonging to a particular caste.
At a recent media interaction, the RJD leader said, “We want to know whether encounters are being carried out after looking at a particular caste.” He further alleged that criminals carrying surnames associated with a specific caste were being disproportionately targeted.
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Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary strongly rejected the allegations and remarked sarcastically that if some people believe the police acted on the basis of caste, then the police should first ask about caste before opening fire.
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The Chief Minister addressed the issue again on Saturday amid the ongoing political debate over caste and crime in Bihar.
“For me, a criminal has no caste. Should the police ask a criminal’s caste before taking action against them? Would that be right?” he asked. “Our police have complete freedom to treat criminals as criminals. No matter what caste or religion a criminal belongs to, they should be treated only as criminals.”
On Saturday, JD(U) MLC and Chief State Spokesperson Neeraj Kumar also accused Tejashwi Yadav of spreading confusion through “fake statistics” and by highlighting the caste identities of criminals.
He said that among those killed in the 22 police encounters that had taken place in the state since November 20, 2024, were criminals such as Kundan Thakur, Priyanshu Dubey, Abhijeet Kushwaha, Rs 50,000 reward-carrying Maoist Dayanand Malakar, Ramdhani Yadav, and Sonu Yadav, belonging to Bhumihar, Brahmin, Kushwaha, Mali, and Yadav communities.
He added that Tejashwi Yadav should also produce caste certificates of criminals from other communities who had died in these encounters.
“In such a situation, Tejashwi Yadav’s claim that people from a particular caste are being targeted in these encounters is completely false,” he said.
Amid the ongoing debate over crime and caste politics in Bihar, statements by Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi further intensified the political atmosphere.
Manjhi questioned why the RJD was supporting criminals from a particular caste and why it did not speak about figures related to a particular community.
In a post on social media platform X, he wrote that although he believes criminals have no caste, some questions still need answers.
The Union Minister asked why nearly 40 per cent of inmates in Bihar’s jails belonged to a single caste. He described it as an issue warranting social and political debate.
Manjhi also alleged that land allotted to Dalits by the government through official land certificates had been encroached upon on a large scale. He claimed that a substantial portion of such land was under illegal occupation by people belonging to one particular caste.
He further said that in cases registered under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, the names of people from one caste appeared more frequently. He also referred to alleged encroachments on graveyard land and incidents related to communal riots.
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