Anand ST Das By

Express News Service

PATNA: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar feels that his state is getting a bad press for crime -- unfairly -- because the media has been blind to the fine print of statistics. Doing some number crunching himself, the chief minister came with the finding Tuesday that crime in Bihar is an exaggerated phenomenon.

“If you consider the ratio of criminal incidents to one lakh population in the country, Bihar stands at no. 22. But news coverage about crime in Bihar is unduly high. So many criminal incidents take place in Delhi. Does anyone speak about that?” complained Nitish Kumar in a speech to a workshop organised by his party Janata Dal (U) on prohibition.

And the chief minister blames the BJP, the main opposition in Bihar, for adding to the distortion by going on and on about the prevalence of “jungle raj” in the state since Nitish Kumar's new government took office last year.

In fact, Nitish Kumar argued, the state police have been so efficient that Bihar’s storied crime rate has seen a considerable decline, especially since prohibition was imposed in April this year.

“There is rule of law in Bihar," the chief minister asserted and added that the real story about Bihar, the progress it has made in the economic and educational sectors, is not being told widely enough.