Gopalgunj, Bihar:
Around 3,000 doctors working in government hospitals across Bihar have abstained from work today, in protest of the brutal murder of one of their on-duty colleagues at the Gopalgunj jail.
Right inside the high-security Gopalgunj District Jail, in the presence of four guards, seven prisoners beat Dr BD Singh to death and instead of raising an alarm, the guards ran away.
Doctors say they want a CBI probe into the case. They also want FIR registered against all the senior jail and police officers on duty when the prisoners murdered Dr Singh.
The doctors are angry that this happened despite Dr Singh complaining to the authorities earlier that he was being threatened by well-connected prisoners because he would not sign fake medical certificates to help them get temporary relief from jail.
"They had threatened to kill him. So he wrote to the district administration seeking help, but the officials did not pay any attention,'' said P D Singh, the brother of the doctor who died.
"If the relatives have proof that Dr Singh had sent a written complaint, let them show it to us. We have no such information. There is no breakdown of law and order in the state,'' said Amir Subhani, Bihar Home Secretary.
Despite the state government defending itself, one cannot deny the fact that Bihar has been synonymous with Goondaraj for decades - a tag Nitish Kumar has fought very hard to shed.
The Gopalgunj jail murder is a big jolt to Nitish Kumar's law and order record.