4,849 kidnappings in Bihar this year

Bhaswaran

4,849 kidnappings and stil counting... in Bihar

This is no fiction: nearly 5,000 people have been abducted in Bihar in the past year, of which 2,217 were kidnapped in the first half of 2007.

Patna High Court disclosed a court report saying that 4,849 cases of kidnapping took place in Bihar from July 2006 to June 2007.

Bihar's kidnapping industry is clearly thriving. Lawyers, doctors, contractors, businessmen and school students have been the prime targets of abductors for ransom.

Hundreds of well-to-do professionals have migrated to other states or sent their children to boarding schools outside the state.

A total of 14,276 abduction cases were pending in courts in the state, and nearly 5,000 criminals involved in abduction cases had not yet been arrested.

Bihar, reputedly India's most lawless state, saw its kidnapping industry take a deadly shape in the early 1990s.

Police officials - both serving and retired - say that crime gangs have proliferated because almost all political parties in Bihar patronise criminals and thugs to win elections.

Over the years, many criminals have taken to politics and become legislators and MPs.

When kidnappings occur, huge ransom amounts are sought - ranging from Rs.100,000 to millions of rupees. Barring rare exceptions, almost all kidnap victims have been males.

Read this: http://in.news.yahoo.com/070804/43/6j0ld.html

jaat

ho hum

edwardseco

Ah, the Bihar tradition. As a cottage industry..

ananda2193

Yikes! And I thought Columbia was the kidnap capital of the world, with over 3000 a year. I must have been lucky to survive when I passed through there years ago.

Jorge Reverter

I was there last November but nobody took me into consideration.

Seriously speaking is really a pity but is not the only state with troubles: What about Naxalites in Chhattisgarh???

Jorge

roopesh_kohad

Naxals in Chhattisgarh and kidnapping industry of Bihar is are two opposite banks of the rivers. They have different motivations, ideology and goals. There may be abberations but they are two distinct menaces.

Naxals target government, its people and institutions. They are not known to hurt tourists neither do they kidnap people for ransom. I till now have not heard of any kidnapping by Naxalites in AP-Chhattisgarh asking for monetary ransom from someboday not related to the government.

Kidnapping industry in Bihar is only after money or land grabbing, corruption or rigging elections. Once you bring in the casteism, scene becomes murkier. The goons there kidnap kids, doctors and other affluents and create an atmosphere of terror so that nobody dare to challenge their supremacy.

On lighter note, the best way to visit Bihar is to keep low profile all the time, behave as an outsider who is not well to do. That will make you uninteresting for goons and you will not be bothered.

uttam

There is no gainsaying what is happening in Bihar. But its little difficult for me to understand what actually our friend, Bhaswaran is trying to Paint here. Though i am convinced that his intentions are not to scare tourists but i am doubtful this thread is doing anything else here in this travel site.
In states like J&K,Assam, Tripura,Manipur,Nagaland, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand,chhatishgarh etc. are we safer? To me these states are more dangerous because you never know when you are bombed alongwith public transport/properties and you depart even without realising what actually happened to you. And there are states like West-Bengal which has given a new word to lexicon- Naxalism. No state is without its quota of trouble.
Please, don't construct the ground reality of a place solely on the basis of data. If this is so, one should not even think of passing through metros like Delhi & Bombay where girls have been abducted from road and raped in moving cars, Buses and trains. In metros no newspaper is without news of roadrage, Robberies, murders etc.
Bihar is a poor state, like any poor region which has gross social-inequality and lack of infrastructure, it has has its own share of woes. Bihar is certainly still not so chaotic that it can be compared to columbia!!
Sitting in metro and judging places on the basis of reporting in the electronic media is becaming rather fashion.

Has anyone ever heard of a traveller kidnapped in Bihar???? Bihar is safe for tourists. oflate things are improving there.

edwardseco

Do know of one assasination in progress toward a foren. Oddly enough I had a connection in my lefty days. With serendipitous fortune it wasn't carried out. Doubt that would affect tourists..

Bhaswaran

Correct...my intentions is not to scare tourists...there are problems everywhere....and I am just providing information about it...as every tourist wants to gather them whenever they go to places......am I right? It is always better to post such topics here so that we can have a valuable discussion on it (as we have here) ....rather than the would be tourist to read himself in the newspaper and get scared. Kashmir is problematic...it is the fact....and tourists also go there ...but cautiously.....is it not good when you are travelling to a particular place but with adequate knowledge about its surroundings, social behavior and system? It is always better to know beforehand rather than to complain later? Do we not post here about keeping belongings in train journeys much carefully because there are theft in trains....it is the fact and it is wise to be careful ...

Nick-H

There are areas of India that are widely recognised as dangerous.

I don't think it is a good idea not to talk about it in case the tourists get scared off!

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capt_mahajan

Agree with Bhaswaran's last post. It is not that crime doesn't happen everywhere. However, it is the frequency and percentage-likelihood of crime which makes some areas more dangerous.

The statistics for Bihar are appalling, and not only for kidnapping. Anybody can look them up.

batistuta

Bihar is as a law-less land and the change of Rule from Laloo to Nithish has not helped matters one bit.

uttam

Batistuta, in state like Bihar which has seen all around deterioration for quite long, don't expect sea-change in such a short time. You may be right about Bihar. But one can not dimiss words of locals who live & experience everyday life there and somehow see slight improvement in situation there. I sincerely believe that locals opinion carry more weight than the analysis and views of people like you and me who are located in the luxaries of big cities like Delhi,Bangalore.

batistuta

The reason why I stated that a change in leadership has not helped matters is because it was thought that the lawlessness was because of the rule of Laloo yadav(or mis-rule, if you will), but it so happens that the situation has not changed. No, I am not expecting any miracles from Bihar, I just stated the obvious.

PeakXV

That exactness of the number of reported kidnappings, four thousand, eight hundred & forty nine .... especially out of Bihar, is a bit humorous though!?

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