Today's Edit: lawlessness in Bihar

Action, not words, is Nitish Kumar’s challenge

Despite the flurry of activity in the three days since Rocky Yadav, son of Bihar legislator Manorama Devi, allegedly shot dead a teenage boy for overtaking his car in Gaya district, there is no looking away from the fact that the gruesome incident points to the larger malaise of lawlessness that has crept back into the State since the JD(U) joined hands with the RJD to form the State Government late last year. Some have argued that the case should be dealt with as one of road rage, but this only leads us to the question: Why was Yadav enragedIJ If the answer is that the politician's son couldn't tolerate the fact that another driver had dared to overtake his car, and hence shot him dead, then the problem is clear.

 Evidently raised in a social environment wherein those in power routinely crush the rights of other citizens and believe that they forever have the right of path, both literally and metaphorically, Yadav's grotesque sense of entitlement meant that even an act as mundane as someone overtaking his car would play out as a grave provocation in his head — allowing him to commit murder. Sure, one can talk about the distorted value system in this case but let that not overshadow the fact that such distortions at the individual level are possible, indeed encouraged, because the State, as the force of the collective, has been lacking on its part.

Had the Government in previous instances cracked down on those who broke the law, irrespective of their connections in power corridors, there would no scope for such a misplaced sense of entitlement. Add to this the long rap sheet of Yadav's father, Bindeshwari Yadav, commonly known as Bindi Yadav (he gained notoriety during the jungle raj of lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi), which includes serious charges such as kidnapping, dacoity, house-grabbing and sedition for supplying weapons to Maoists, and it is clear how the cycle of crime, power, wealth and impunity manifests itself.

In this case, the only silver lining is the outrage that it has sparked not just in Bihar but across the country —thereby compelling the authorities to take action. On Monday, Rocky Yadav's father and his mother's bodyguard were arrested and sent to judicial custody for 14 days while the prime accused, who was initially absconding, was taken in on Tuesday. Yadav's mother, the JD(U) legislator, and her boss Chief Minister Nitish Kumar have both said that the law will be allowed to take its course and the guilty punished. Of course, actions speak louder than words, and only time will tell if justice will be done in this case. But for now, there is little reason to hope.

In the months since the JD(U)-RJD coalition formed the Government, there have a slew of high-profile crimes including political murders — In February this year, the BJP's vice president in Bihar was shot dead, a day after BJP worker Kedar Singh was killed in Chapra, on the heels of lJP functionary Brijnath Singh's murder near Patna. In January, a girl from Indore and a local jeweler were killed in Patna. In December, a building contractor was killed in the State capital while two engineers with a private road construction company were shot dead in Darbhanga. As expected, justice is yet to be served in any of these cases which are expectedly moving at snail's pace.