Bihar's train dacoity creates controversy in Parliament

The train dacoity in Bihar, in which a Delhi police officer was killed, snowballed into a major verbal battle between the treasury and opposition benches in the Lok Sabha during the zero hour on March 5, ultimately dragging the deputy speaker into the tangle.

Raising the issue, Nitish Kumar (Samta) said incidents of train dacoities were on an increase in Bihar. He referred to the reported statement of the Bihar chief minister about the railway police having a hand in such incidents. Yet, the railway minister refused to take responsibility for the incident. Kumar wanted to know who was responsible for the safety of the passengers and demanded a discussion in the house. Several members, including Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Lal Muni Choubey, Prakash Mani Tripathi (all BJP) and N K Premachandran (RSP) joined Kumar in expressing concern about dacoities in long-distance trains.

Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, responding to the concern expressed by the members, said the railway ministry had a very limited role to play in maintaining law and order. The railway protection force and the government railway protection force had limited resources and it was impossible to keep a vigil on all trains. He clarified that the RPF's duty was mainly to protect railway property whereas the GRPF maintained law and order with 50 per cent assistance from the state.

At a recent meeting of the railway police, Paswan had stated that it would be difficult to handle the situation unless the ministry gets more assistance from the states. He said that, besides Bihar, such incidents were also taking place in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal.

As soon Paswan finished, Deputy Speaker Suraj Bhan observed, "The Bihar chief minister says it is not his job, the railway minister says it is not his. The government has to take note of this. The home minister is here. He can say something.'' To which Parliamentary Affairs Minister Srikant Jena promptly retorted that such remarks from the chair were unfortunate.

At this point, ruling party members, including Ram Kripal Yadav (JD) and Ranjan Yadav (SP), got up and entered into a verbal battle with the opposition. Jena objected to the chair making certain remarks about the chief minister without verifying what he had actually said. His only submission, he said, was that the matter should not be politicised. The chief minister's statement should be verified before coming to any conclusion. There was complete chaos in the house for sometime as members of both the sides continued their verbal battle.

A fresh controversy arose when the deputy speaker pulled up a member of the ruling party for saying, ''Deputy speaker bakwas karta hai (the deputy speaker is talking rubbish)." He asked the concerned member to withdraw his remarks. But the member denied making it.

Former prime minister Chandrasekhar calmed the house by appealing to the members not to lose their temper or oversensitise the issue. According to him, the deputy speaker had not made any objectionable remark.

Earlier, the railway minister announced a posthumous award of Rs 200,000 for the Delhi police inspector, Abhay Kumar Singh, who was killed in the shootout in the Howrah-bound Kalka Mail on the night of February 3. He added that Singh's widow would be offered a job in the railways and that Delhi police commissioner Nikhil Kumar would recommend the name of the late police officer for the gallantry award.

Disclosing this to members of parliament from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh at the informal Consultative Committee for North-eastern Railways in New Delhi on February 5, the minister said that the inspector sacrificed his life while 10 to 12 dacoits boarded the train at Mughalsarai and started looting the passengers. The inspector shot to death two of the dacoits before he lost his own life. Early this morning, the minister visited Singh's family to convey his sympathies.

UNI