Security personnel inspect shoes of the visitors to chief minister's janata durbar on Monday. Picture by Deepak Kumar
Patna, Jan. 12: A flying shoe one week and a five-step security check the next, with a possibility of another attack not totally ruled out.
Alarmed at a youth's attempt to hurl his shoe at Jitan Ram Manjhi last week, security cover at the chief minister's janata durbar increased by a few notches today. However, by the time the security detail was followed through, visitors still had their shoes on.
Last week, Amritosh Kumar from Chhapra, a 25-year-old former pizza outlet worker, hurled the footwear at Manjhi, accusing him of playing caste politics. The shoe missed its target and fell inches away from Manjhi who was conducting his first janata durbar of the year. Amritosh is now lodged in Phulwari jail. This week, to avoid any rerun, a thorough five-step check was in place.
Complainants and visitors passing through two door-frame metal detectors like earlier was no longer enough. Before they could reach Manjhi, each visitor today went through five such metal detectors.
Two of the door-frame detectors were placed outside the durbar hall and the rest inside. Frisking outside the hall done, the visitors had to pass through a third one once inside the durbar hall. Then, similar to security checks at any US airport, the visitors also had to take off shoes and socks and even turn out their pockets.
Security personnel, on alert to protect the chief minister, asked each visitor to remove their shoes and socks, hold up the sole and then wear the shoes again. The visitors were asked to turn out their pockets, unfold their collars and mufflers and take out their wallets and belts.
Before taking the chair to wait for their turn with Manjhi, the visitors had to pass through a fourth door-frame metal detector.
Think that's enough, there's more. Before reaching the chief minister's table, feet warm in their shoes, the complainants had to pass through yet another metal detector.
Reacting to the security checks, the visitors took to sarcasm. Suresh Kumar Mahto, a 28-year-old resident of Samastipur district, said: 'They should better make an arrangement like in temples where you are given a token to keep your shoes outside the shrines. Once you go out, you return the token and get back your shoes. It was really ridiculous. We are not some criminals who have come to the durbar to commit some crime.'
In earlier durbars, the visitors stood five feet from the chief minister. Today, they stood 15 feet away. Once they presented their complaint, a security officer took out the visitor through four-layer security cover.
There were around 300 personnel on duty today, 100 more than previous durbars.
After a security breach in Nitish Kumar's durbar on January 7, 2013, security was also tightened, sources said but it wasn't anything like today's.
Then, Sarojani Kumari, a 20-year-old, had slashed her palm with a blade.
One of the officers present on duty at Manjhi's durbar today told The Telegraph: 'Security has been tightened on the order of Amrik Singh Nimbran, the security adviser to the chief minister. We are just following the orders and the people should co-operate with us.'
A visitor from Fatuha, Dev Narayan Yadav, 52, said: 'The way the security personnel frisked us, it looked like there was a threat of terror attack or a bomb scare.'