Law and order is under question in Darbhanga after the killing of Jitendra Sahni, father of former minister Mukesh Sahni. The investigating police say that the murder was committed during a robbery. In recent times, this pattern of crime (first theft or robbery and then murder) has become more common in Mithilanchal area. In the month of July alone, around 20 major cases of such crimes have been reported in Sitamarhi, Darbhanga and Madhubani.
Why such crimes are resurfacing is a matter of police investigation, but the way these cases of theft, robbery, robbery and murder have increased has once again brought Mithilanchal to the brink of crime. The big question is why this pattern of crime has prevailed in Mithilanchal areas?
A cocktail of money, police and escape?
Mithilanchal consists of 8 districts including Darbhanga, Madhubani, Samastipur, Sitamarhi. A cocktail of money, migration and police is believed to be behind the rise in such crimes in these areas. How, let’s understand it in detail-
First understand the money game
Mithilanchal includes districts like Darbhanga, Madhubani and Sitamarhi adjacent to Nepal border. Due to its border with Nepal, there is a lot of smuggling. According to the police, liquor, opium, ganja, rice and gold are most smuggled along these borders with Nepal. There is a whole syndicate running in the area to smuggle these goods, even with the instigation of the local police, such crimes flourish.
This smuggling game is worth crores of rupees, the money of which is divided into several parts. Due to this money, drug trade has also increased in rural areas. Along with dry intoxication, taking drugs and injections has become a trend among the youth. This drug system is working indiscriminately in the villages of border areas.
This flow of money has increased crime in these areas. When smugglers are unable to smuggle and are under the influence of drugs, they easily commit petty to major crimes. Due to these crimes, Bihar ranks third in the case of theft and second in the case of robbery in the whole country. This data is from NCRB.
Migration is also a reason for the increase in crime
Migration has long been a major problem in Bihar, especially in Mithilanchal areas. According to the Indian Institute of Population Sciences, 50 percent of households in Bihar have some member affected by migration. 8 districts of Mithilanchal are also not untouched by this figure. Thieves and robbers easily commit crimes because people are not staying at home.
The districts of Mithilanchal have seen an increase in such incidents in the last one year. In Madhubani district alone, in 4 such incidents in the year 2023, bandits looted more than Rs 1 crore from locked houses. Similar cases were also witnessed in Darbhanga on Monday, where lakhs were stolen from the houses of two people in Tardih of Saktapur police station area.
Being a border area, Mithilanchal is also on the radar of bandits. After looting here, bandits easily enter Nepal, stay till the situation calms down and then start carrying out another incident.
Crime has also increased due to the passive attitude of the police
The main reason for the rise in crime is the careless attitude of the police. The police are accused of working with criminals. Recently, bandits raided a house in Saharghat of Madhubani district to loot. The house targeted by the bandits was only 500 meters away from the local police station, yet the police did not arrive until after the entire robbery had taken place.
When the police from the neighboring Harlakhi Police Station reached the spot, the robbers escaped. There was an uproar in Madhubani after this incident. Seeing the situation deteriorating, the SP removed the station in-charge.
After the killing of Mukesh Sahni’s father in Birol, Mithila Student Union treasurer and Zilla Parishad member Dheeraj Kumar Jha has questioned the role of the police.
According to Dheeraj, the policemen do not perform every activity from registering a case, going to the scene, investigating the case without charging a huge amount from the concerned party. If one party is not satisfied with the recovery, they recover the amount from both parties. Finally, under the burden of money, they do not take legal action and this keeps the morale of criminals high.
