Bihar Upper House passes police Bill as Opposition boycotts

The Bihar Legislative Council passed the Bihar Special Armed Police Bill, 2021, even as the RJD-led Opposition boycotted proceedings in both Houses of the state legislature on Wednesday, protesting the way their MLAs were evicted from the Assembly a day before. The RJD demanded an apology from Prime Minister Nitish Kumar for the forced eviction of the opposition MLAs.

The bill was approved in the Assembly on Tuesday night despite attempts by the opposition to stall its presentation. While the RJD still had the opportunity to oppose the bill in the Council, where it has six members, and demand a debate or suggest amendments, it boycotted the process.

Opposition lawmakers led by opposition leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav sat in a dharna outside the legislature on Wednesday. They got RJD MLA Bhudeo Choudhary to serve as a speaker to hold mock proceedings in protest against alleged misconduct with at least seven MLAs as they were pulled out of Assembly Tuesday.

“I will not return to the House until Chief Minister Nitish Kumar apologizes for the misconduct of his police force,” Tejashwi said. He said the passage of the police bill would pave the way for the “raj police, giving them unbridled powers.”

The Opposition also paraded 12 MLAs, seven of whom sustained injuries while being summoned Tuesday for protesting the bill in the Assembly. Former Prime Minister and RJD leader Rabri Devi accused the police of misbehaving with female legislators during the course of the mobilization.

Women MLAs who were organized included MLAs from RJD Anita Devi and Manju Devi, and Pratima Kumari from Congress. The three MLAs, along with two other MLA women, had approached the President’s chair after Opposition Leader Tejashwi returned to the House after staging a protest outside around 4.30pm on Tuesday.

Tejashwi’s return to the Assembly intensified opposition protest against the police bill, which until then had forced a couple of postponements. While RJD’s Mohammed Kamran and CPI’s Mehboob Alam led the charge of the Opposition, another RJD MLA, Bhai Virendra, tore up a copy of the bill in the presence of acting speaker Prem Kumar. Another RJD MLA, Satyendra Yadav, tried unsuccessfully to snatch a copy of the bill from Senior Deputy Minister Tarkishore Prasad.

The rebellious scenes led to the House’s eviction of protesting MLAs. However, several of the legislators, including Makdumpur MLA Satish Kumar from RJD, RJD Ramgarh MLA Sudhakar Singh and Karahgar MLA Santosh Mishra from Congress, accused the police of mistreating them.

Satish Kumar, who fainted while being taken out, said: “It is a case of police excess. We were pushed and pinned to the ground. “His party colleague Sudhakar Singh made similar accusations. In a video that went viral Tuesday night, Singh is seen being dragged along with Kumar.

A state Assembly official said: “As the situation was spiraling out of control, we had to call in additional forces, including personnel from the Rapid Action Force. A total of 12 MLAs were ordered. Those who resisted had to be dragged away. But none of them suffered serious injuries ”.