Medical admissions in Bihar face MCI axe over resource crunch, faculty shortage

For the students of Bihar, dreams of studying medicine in the state may remain just that, a pipe-dream. The prestigious IGIMS’ admissions for the current year have been disallowed by MCI, the proposal for a medical college in Bettiah has been turned down and the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College in Bhagalpur is under the scanner owing to resource crunch. Only the medical college in Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s home district, Nalanda has got the green signal.

IGIMS Patna which had started its MBBS programme in 2011 and would have admitted its third batch, has been told not to go ahead with the process. The MCI had to stop the admission to its MBBS programme after it found that the institute was short of resident doctors by 53 percent and faculty by 35 percent.

In the case of Bettiah Medical College, the MCI had directed the proposed medical college to come up to the standards set by it. Subsequently, MCI rejected the compliance report presented by the college management in a meeting held on June 18.

The kind of inertia that has gripped medical education in Bihar can be gauged from the fact that the government-run Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College in Bhagalpur which has been running since 1970 has an intake of only 50 students per year. To add to its woes, MCI is reviewing the college owing to the resource crunch being faced by this college.

The only silver lining in Bihar seems to be the medical college which is coming up at Pavapuri in Nitish Kumar’s Nalanda district. The college has an authorization of 100 medical seats.

Corrupt Bihar top cop's house converted into a school

The Bihar government Wednesday opened a school for mentally challenged children in a house confiscated from former director general of police Narayan Mishra, convicted for amassing wealth through graft, an official said.

The school, named "Chaman" (garden) is the first such in Bihar.

"It is a unique school to impart education to mentally challenged children and it opened in the confiscated house of a top police officer," a district official said.

"More than 50 children will be enrolled in the school," the official said. According to officials, the education imparted in the school will equip the children to lead as normal a life as possible, given their mental state.

Last year, the state government had taken a decision to open the school in the house confiscated from Mishra. The 5,937 sq ft house in Rukunpura locality of the state capital was transferred to the social welfare department.

A vigilance court in 2012 had ordered the confiscation of the property, finding Mishra guilty of amassing wealth far in excess of known sources of income.

It was the first time that a police officer who had been at the helm of the state's police force was tried under the Bihar Special Court Act, 2009.

Mishra had challenged the vigilance court's order in the Patna High Court, but his petition was rejected.

A vigilance case was lodged against Mishra in 2007 for amassing assets including property valued at Rs.1.40 crore in 1984.

Mishra was suspended by the government four years ago.

Till date, the Bihar government has confiscated the houses of an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Shiv Shankar Verma, and a treasury clerk, Girish Kumar.

Proceedings to confiscate properties of some more officials have been initiated.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar last year gave his nod for the prosecution of nearly two dozen officials.

People of Bihar is not safe in the hands of the police: HRC

In a scathing comment on the police brass, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has observed with 'concern' and 'dismay', that the people of the state were 'not very safe with the police'.

The BHRC made the observation in response to the director-general of police, Abhayanand's response to the commission, sought in a case of misconduct involving a sub-inspector (S-I), then posted as station house officer of Chauri police station in Bhojpur district.

As many as nine departmental proceedings had been initiated against the S-I concerned, Subodh Kumar Singh, of which, he was awarded punishment in seven. The commission had sought the response of the DGP whether it would be in public interest to retain such an officer in police service in view of his service record.

In his response to the commission, the DGP raised doubts over the jurisdiction of the state human rights commission.

He said, "The issue of retaining a government servant in public interest on account of orders of punishment passed in different departmental proceedings may not fall within the purview and jurisdiction of the SHRC in terms of the provisions of the Protection of Human Rights Act."

After a few 'general remarks' on the point of passing orders of compulsory retirement, the DGP further said, "Police officials work under several constraints and in difficult situations, which many times are life threatening. In course of performing their duties, they are at times faced with vindictive and malafide action at the hands of those who are aggrieved by their action. At times, even false cases and complaints are lodged against them."

Clarifying his stand, SHRC chairperson, Justice (retd) SN Jha said, "The objection to the jurisdiction of the SHRC overlooks the provisions of section 18(a)(ii) of the Protection of Human Rights Act, which empowers the human rights commission to recommend to the government 'to initiate proceedings for prosecution or such other suitable action as the commission may deem fit' against the person concerned."

He further said, "The query was made into the facts of the case and considering, that the officer (SI) was punished in all seven (out of nine) departmental proceedings, it cannot be said that the complaints were false. After all, punishments were awarded by the police officers themselves."

"The commission expected, that the DGP would get the matter examined at his level and make suitable intervention, but what is conveyed to the commission is a general denial as if all is well with the police organisation and no action is required to be taken against erring police officials because they work in difficult situations… If this is what the state head of the police organisation believes, the commission would observe with concern and dismay, the people of the state are not very safe with the police," concluded Justice Jha.

Jharkhand HC dismisses Lalu’s fodder scam petitions

The Jharkhand High Court on Monday dismissed the petitions of RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav to transfer one of his fodder scam cases to another special CBI court from the present court of Pravas Kumar Singh and examining one more witness.

The court of RR Prasad, who had on June 28 reserved the order on the pleas after Ram Jethmalani argued for Yadav, dismissed the petitions.

Prasad, who faces a judgement in a fodder scam case on July 15, filed the petition requesting transfer of RC20A case to another special CBI court as he did not “expect justice” from the present special CBI judge Pravas Kumar Singh following his alleged relationship with two Bihar-based JDU leaders, who are political opponents.

Appearing for Lalu Prasad, Jethmalani had argued before the court that the Animal Husbandry case be transferred from the court of Pravas Kumar Singh on that ground.

He also argued that that there were about 76 witnesses in the Animal Husbandry Scam but only 17 witnesses had been examined in the case and sought to examine one more witness in the case.

On June 24, Supreme Court advocate Surendra Kumar Singh had informed the special court of Pravas Kumar Singh that arguments on behalf of his client be stopped till an order by the High Court.

The CBI court has been hearing arguments for the last one month and had on June 20 directed 45 fodder scam accused, including Prasad, to complete arguments by July 1.

He has fixed July 15 to deliver the verdict on the RC 20A-96 case pertaining to alleged fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from Chaibasa Treasury in the 1990s.

There are 45 accused out of 56 in the RCA/96. The rest have since either turned approver or died.

Bihar CID to probe into chopping off girl's hands

The Bihar government on Monday ordered a criminal investigation department (CID) probe into the alleged chopping of the right hand of an eight-year-old girl near a railway station in Patna last Thursday.

 Director general of police (DGP) Abhayanand ordered the probe into the alleged attack in a bylane near the state capital’s Rajendra Nagar railway terminal, after her mother met chief minister Nitish Kumar at his janata durbar.

 Dismissing the police version that the child’s arm had to be severed by doctors at the Patna medical college hospital owing to injuries she sustained when she fell under a train, the mother sought "justice" from Kumar.

 After he had heard her, the chief minister asked her to meet the DGP, who was present at the janata durbar, held as a weekly feature at Kumar’s official residence in a VVIP enclave of western Patna.

 Asked how she wanted the matter to be dealt with, the victim’s mother left it to the DGP to do whatever he thought was the best way to bring justice to her family.

 Thereafter, the DGP ordered the CID to investigate the matter after getting the full account of events from the complainant.

 Additional director general of police (CID) AK Upadhyaya, who was present there, told reporters the agency would probe afresh the woman’s complaint in its entirety.

 "Besides the allegation that the victim’s right arm was chopped off with a sharp-edged weapon soon after she alighted from a train at the Rajendra Nagar station late Thursday night, the CID would also go in the kidnapping of her brother Zulfikar Alam, 4, in May, allegedly by Bobby Khan and his men, in which the victim was a witness", Upadhyay said.

 The ordering of the CID probe came even as Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manu Maharaj had cited preliminary probe findings to show the severing of the victim’s right arm came about after she fell from a train.

 The victim’s father, Ainul Ansari, had Thursday night’s attack near the railway station was the handiwork of Khan and his men who had earlier abducted his son Zulfikar, allegedly over a "land dispute."

 Ansari had also claim the family had come to Patna to seek the DGP’s help in securing the release of his son, when the attack took place.

 He had also claimed the assailants wanted to kill his eight-year-old daughter as she was the sole witness to her brother's kidnapping in May at Laheriasarai in north Bihar’s Darbhanga district, where Ansari works as a tailor.

Train hits auto, two dead in Nalanda district

A special train today hit an autorickshaw killing its two occupants at an unmanned level crossing in Bihar's Nalanda district, police said.

The incident took place at Dhibra halt when a speeding train hit the three-wheeler after it got stuck at the crossing, Deputy Superintendent of Police Mohammed Qasim said.

local people staged demonstration to protest the incident and sat on the track disrupting movement of trains.

2 passengers, 1 RPF jawan killed in Naxal attack on train

Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde has confirmed the death of an RPF jawan and one passenger aboard the Bihar train that came under Naxal attack.

The latest reports coming in from Bihar now indicate that three people have been killed in the attack on the passenger train. CNN-IBN reported that the dead included 1 RPF Jawan and two passengers.

No further details were immediately available.  The condition of the train driver is still serious.