Kidnappings - now in Assam

Kidnapping is now a huge industry

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Dec 25: After militancy, kidnappings have emerged as a grave threat to law and order in Assam over the last few years. Though the majority of militant groups in the State have joined the mainstream, kidnapping is fast becoming an industry for criminals or those who are after easy money, with Assam registering 18,828 cases of kidnapping from 2001 to October 2010. The State Government is worried about the menace, but the police says it does not have enough manpower to track down all kidnappers.

The gradual increase in kidnapping cases has belied the Tarun Gogoi Government’s claim that the State law-and-order situation is normal.

As per official records, Assam has registered 18,828 kidnappings from 2001 to October 2010. Of them, 16,402 were, however, released or managed to escape from the clutches of the abductors. A total of 2,426 people kidnapped during the above period are yet to be traced. The number of kidnapped people in 2001 was 1,111. It rose to 2,719 in 2009. This year, the State has recorded 2,456 kidnappings till October.

Sources believe that the figure 18,828 may be the tip of the iceberg because many cases of kidnapping that take place in remote areas are seldom registered with the police.

“Kidnapping has become an industry or a source of easy money not only for extremists but also for other people,” said police sources today, and added: “Usually, extremists, rival businessmen and criminals kidnap people. Of these three categories of people, criminals who carry out kidnappings are the biggest challenge to the police.”

According to the sources, though the State Government has claimed to have been able to rescue many people from kidnappers, the majority of those who returned home after being kidnapped have had to pay some ransom to their abductors.

The sources said, “The police does not have adequate manpower to tackle all the kidnapping cases. We’ll have to develop a system to deal with this menace. Otherwise kidnapping will become a huge industry in Assam in the future.”

Another big problem being faced by the police is that most of the people who return home after being abducted hardly give any information to the authorities on how they were released or the whereabouts of the kidnappers when they were held hostage.


The above is from the Sentinel of Assam.
I thought Kidnapping was an industry only in Bihar, that too during Lalu Yadav's time. I see it is very much prevalent in Assam.
Nitish has been able to reduce it to a great extent but even he has not been able to eliminate it.
It has been observed in Bihar that politicians were involved in these kidnappings as they got a cut of the ransom money. By convicting criminals of all political parties, Bihar has been able to correct this disease.
So if the people in Assam want to control the kidnapping, they should kick out the present government and appoint an honest man like Nitish