In Forbesganj, located in Bihar’s Araria district, a person selling *Sattu* slit the throat of a pickup truck driver following a minor altercation in broad daylight on Thursday. Subsequently, the mob thrashed the accused to death. This double murder has now taken a political form. Reacting to the incident, Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav raised serious questions about the law and order situation in Bihar and launched a scathing attack on the government. Posting on social media platform ‘X’, he described the incident as a clear example of the state of lawlessness prevailing in Bihar.
Tejashwi Yadav’s attack
Commenting on the incident on social media, Tejashwi Yadav wrote: “The situation in Bihar is so dire that a man publicly slit another man’s throat in a crowded market and walked around with his severed head in front of hundreds of people. What could be a better illustration of this ‘Mahachoupat Raj’ than this? This incident clearly shows the extent to which law and order has collapsed in Bihar. Moreover—and this is an important point—carrying someone’s severed head This scene of roaming seems like a scene from a recently released propaganda film. The poison that the BJP government is spreading in the society is really heart-wrenching. The results of this ‘poison’ are now coming to the fore.”
Leaders busy in ‘race for chair’, public helpless
Taking a dig at the ruling alliance, Tejashwi said that while murders, robberies and rapes are taking place daily in Bihar, the leaders of the BJP-JD(U) alliance are completely engrossed in the political game of grabbing the chief minister’s chair. He also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that at the time of elections, the Prime Minister will come back to the trite trope of “jungle raj” (anarchy), but he will remain completely silent on the current state of “mahachaupat regime”.
Criminals have no fear of law
Tejashwi Yadav further said: “The emboldenedness of the criminals has increased so much that murders are being carried out in broad daylight, in front of everyone, and they have no fear of the law at all. The common people of Bihar are feeling completely unsafe because of the NDA administration, which is misguided, entangled in its own affairs and a complete failure—because it is immersed in the illegal trade of sand and liquor.” “This is not the rule of NDA in Bihar; it is the rule of complete anarchy.”
What happened in Araria?
According to reports, near the marketing yard in Forbesganj, a small fight broke out between Ravi Chauhan (a sattu seller) and Ali Hussain (a pickup truck driver) over parking space. Within no time, the fight escalated to such an extent that Ravi severed Ali Hussain’s head from his torso with a sharp weapon. The most hair-raising aspect of this incident was that after the murder, the accused kept roaming among the crowd for a long time with the severed head in his hand—a sight that left the entire market in a state of terror.
After this crime, the angry mob took the law into their own hands. When the accused Ravi Chauhan was trying to take shelter by hiding inside a house, a mob of hundreds of people dragged him outside and kept beating him until he died due to injuries. This public lynching by the mob has raised a big question on the promptness and efficiency of the police administration. Araria Superintendent of Police (SP) Jitendra Kumar has confirmed the double murder, and heavy police force has been deployed in the area.