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Bihar police at lowest level: High Court

     Patna: Perturbed by the failure of the Bihar police to retain the faith of the common man, the Patan High Court on Monday rebuked it, saying the police in the state had descended to the lowest level. The criticism came when the police produced Gaurav Kumar alias Golu, who was kidnapped on September 20, before the court. A division bench comprising Chief Justice J N Bhatt and Justice R N Prasad expressed that the common man's faith in the police needed to be restored as many innocent people still remained in captivity. The court also expressed pleasure over Golus return and said it would sort out the compensation to be paid by the state to Golus family for the violation of boys fundamental rights and the trauma, stress, pain and agony bore by his parents for the past 26 days. The division bench directed State Director General of Police Ashish Ranjan Sinha to brief it about the number of children and women in the state who had not been rescued after being kidnapped. However, state counsel S K Ghosh said that it was intense pressure by police on the kidnappers that caused Golu's release. Patna SSP Kundan Krishnan, who along with Zonal IG A S Nimbran had accompanied Golu to the court, informed the bench that 14 persons had been arrested in connection with the schoolboy's kidnapping. Nine-year-old Gaurav Kumar of DAV School was abducted by armed gunmen on September 20 from outside his in Danapur while returning home. His kidnapping was followed by protests by school students and teachers against police failure to recover him, and later the High Court directed the state police by setting deadline to intensify its operations to get him released.

World events from the New York Times