Patna: Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday postponed the crucial law and order review meeting that was scheduled on Tuesday (September 4) as he fell ill - the third time in as many months.
Sources in the chief minister's office (CMO) said Nitish has been under the weather with cough, cold and fever since August 31, the day he returned from Chennai after attending late DMK chief M Karunanidhi's memorial event, which has led to the postponement of the law and order review meet.
If the chief minister doesn't recover on time, he might not attend the event scheduled on Teachers' Day and also the review meet on Pitri Paksha Mela in Gaya.
The law and order meet was crucial because Bihar has witnessed a spate of crimes and mob violence in recent months.
The last time he had reviewed the situation was on January 3 this year.
At present, the perception about the rule of law - a USP of Nitish's rule since 2005 - is turning negative among the people and the Opposition is aggressively attacking him and the state government.
Data put out by the police headquarters reveal that the number of cognisable offences have risen from 20,096 in August 2017 to tentative figures of 21,709 in August 2018, an increase of over 8 per cent.
Additional director-general (ADG) (police headquarters) S.K. Singhal said a fresh date for law and order review was expected soon. He also reeled off data to show that the situation was under control in the state and attributed it to better policing and monitoring.
Talking to the media, Singhal said nine out of 12 categories of cognisable offences, including dacoity, loot, burglary, theft, simple riots, severe riots, kidnapping, kidnapping for ransom, atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and atrocities against women, have shown a decline.
"We have arrested 1.77 lakh people in connection with various crimes this year. Number of cases sent for speedy trial has shown an increase. Over 3,000 people involved in various cases have been put on speedy trial between January and July this year, of which 646 have been convicted. The police were expecting a growth of 6.21 per cent in speedy trial of cases," Singhal added.
However, if we go by the figures, 284 murders happened in August 2018 in comparison to 236 during the same month last year.
This is an increase of 20.3 per cent. Similarly, incidents of rape have climbed to 105 in August 2018 in comparison to 102 in August 2017 showing a growth of around 3 per cent, while kidnappings have risen to 886 in 2018 from 770 in 2017, depicting a sharp rise of 15 per cent.
However, comparative crime figures of July and August 2018 show a fall in overall cognisable offences by 12 per cent and show a decline in most of the categories of crime except murder, theft and kidnapping for ransom.
