In Pics: Bihar strike over shelter home horror; thousands throng streets of Patna to protest
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, leader of the opposition in the state assembly, made a scathing attack on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on the Muzaffarpur episode.
Rail and road traffic was disrupted in several districts of Bihar today on account of a day-long bandh called by the Left organisations to protest against the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal and the alleged atrocities against Dalits in the state.
Protesters clashed with police in the state capital and forced shops to close in some areas, while several public schools had already declared a holiday to avoid any inconvenience to their students and teachers. However, banks and government offices appeared to have normal attendance.
Several opposition parties including the RJD, the Congress, the Hindustani Awam Morcha and the Loktantri Janta Dal (floated by former JD(U) president Sharad Yadav) also lent their support to the bandh, which was seen by political observers as coming together of non-NDA parties ahead of the 2019 general elections.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, leader of the opposition in the state assembly, made a scathing attack on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on the Muzaffarpur episode.
He tweeted that by having shot off a couple of letters to Chief Minister, Governor Satya Pal Mallik has indirectly questioned CM's "criminal silence on the horrendous institutional rape case" but Kumar was still "deadly silent".
The tweet followed another one in Hindi wherein the RJD leader "vowed" to compel Nitish Kumar to open his mouth on Muzaffarpur rape case, awaken his "comatose conscience" and expose his "hypocritical claims of morality".
Protesters clashed with police in the state capital and forced shops to close in some areas, while several public schools had already declared a holiday to avoid any inconvenience to their students and teachers. However, banks and government offices appeared to have normal attendance. - PTI
Several opposition parties including the RJD, the Congress, the Hindustani Awam Morcha and the Loktantri Janta Dal (floated by former JD(U) president Sharad Yadav) also lent their support to the bandh, which was seen by political observers as coming together of non-NDA parties ahead of the 2019 general elections. - PTI
Samajwadi Party activists protest during Bihar Bandh against the alleged exploitation of women and dalits - PTI
Rashtriya Janata Dal activists try to stop a prison van during Bihar Bandh protest over the recent cases of women exploitation and other crimes, in Patna on Thursday - PTI
In Muzaffarpur, CPI(ML) workers staged a protest in front of the residence of Brajesh Thakur, patron of the state-funded NGO that was running the girl shelter home that has landed in a major controversy over alleged sexual assault of its inmates. Thakur has been arrested in connection with the scandal. - Twitter
An FIR was lodged against 11 people, including Thakur on May 31. The probe has now been taken over by the CBI. The NGO running the shelter home has since been blacklisted and the girls have been shifted to other shelter homes in Patna and Madhubani. - Twitter
Smaller parties like Hindustani Awam Morcha, Loktantrik Janta Dal (floated by former JD(U) president Sharad Yadav) and NCP also lent support to the bandh, seen by political observers as coming together of non-NDA parties ahead of the 2019 general elections. According to a release issued by state police headquarters, a total of 598 persons were arrested across the state. Notably, arrests were reported from only four districts.