Anand ST Das By

Express News Service

PATNA: Even as Bihar police claimed that the rate of crime in the state has fallen by 22.23 per cent between August 2017 and August 2018, the ruling NDA's ally and Union minister Upendra Kushwaha on Tuesday questioned the government on the rising crime and lawlessness.

Asking Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of JD(U) to focus on improving law and order in the state, Kushwaha said criminals seem to have no fear of police in Bihar. His statements were pooh-poohed by the ruling JD(U) and BJP leaders, who maintained that the government is doing its best to contain crime and bring criminals to justice.

"Frequent murders executed by criminals in recent months have become a massive challenge for the state administration. The chief minister should ensure that law and order in the state improves," said Kushwaha, the Union minister of state for education, who is the national president of NDA ally Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP), after visiting the family of an RLSP leader who was shot dead in Vaishali district.

A review meeting on the state's worsening law and order situation slated to be held by Nitish Kumar on Tuesday had to be postponed as he fell ill. The last time Kumar had chaired such a meeting was in January. But Bihar ADGP (headquarters) SK Singhal presented data showing that ten out of 13 categories of cognizable offences had registered a "significant decline" between August 2017 and August 2018.

He also said that police have achieved greater success in ensuring convictions of criminals during this period."While dacoities declined by 58.62 per cent, incidents of abduction for ransom have fallen by 40 per cent.

Similarly, loot and burglary incidents have decreased by 17.48 per cent and 9.64 per cent respectively. Severe rioting incidents registered a 37.5 per cent decline," said Singhal. However, murder rate rose by 1.43 per cent during the period.The Opposition RJD leader Subodh Rai said frequent incidents of serious crimes in recent months "does not inspire faith" in the data presented by the cops.