Monday, January 30 2006 17:42 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: The Patna High Court today (Jan 30,2006) sought to know from the Centre, whether a special cell could be opened in the Union Home Ministry for Bihar in view of the 'grave' law and order situation and rising Naxalite activities and instructed the state government to file a formal request with New Delhi.

Observing that the Naxalite attack on Jehanabad jail in November last be taken as an 'eye opener', a division bench comprising Chief Justice J N Bhatt and Justice R N Prasad directed the Centre to reply through an affidavit by March 1 if it was possible to open a special cell for the state on the lines of Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and Punjab.

The bench instructed the State Government to make a formal request to the Centre on the proposal.

After hearing arguments of both the state and the Centre on intelligence inputs and the action taken on them to prevent 'Operation Jailbreak' on November 13 night last and the Bihar Government's claim of manpower shortage and infrastructure bottlenecks, the bench suggested the cell be opened in the Union Home Ministry where a minister or some senior officer could be deputed to specially monitor the situation of Bihar, as part of long-term strategy to deal with crime and Naxalite activities.

The court was hearing a PIL by 'People's Watch' which claimed that the administration failed to prevent the incident despite prior intelligence inputs and sought the court's directive for fool-proof security in jails to avoid future recurrence.

Bihar Home Secretary H C Sirohi and police chief Ashish Ranjan Sinha were present in the court.

The court had on January nine last sought reports from the two governments on the jailbreak by CPI (Maoist) activists on November 13 night at Jehanabad. Nine persons were killed and over 380 inmates escaped in the incident.

It specifically sought to know when intelligence inputs were received and the action taken on them.

Bihar Advocate General P K Shahi denied the state had received intelligence from the Centre on the very morning of the attack and refuted the charge that its officials "slept" over the information.

He said the Centre had given overall information about naxalite activities in Bihar and other states in September last and it was Inspector General of Police (Operation) R R Verma who gathered intelligence from local sources about movement of naxalites in Nadaul and Kako Areas on the afternoon of November 13. Since, there was no specific information about the target of the naxalites and owing to shortage of available forces as elections were on at that time, the 'unfortunate' incident could not be prevented, the IG said.

Amid differing versions of the state and the Centre about their roles and the timing of intelligence inputs, the bench directed the Union Government to submit in a sealed envelope, its version on the next date of hearing on March one.

It also asked the State Government to submit a report on action taken.

Pointing out structural shortcomings of the state government in dealing with the situation, petitioner's counsel Arvind Kumar alleged there were many policemen who themselves were facing criminal charges.