Left activists clash with police in Patna during protest over 'increasing' crimes against women

Left-wing group activists clashed with the police in Patna’s Dak Bungalow Crossing on Tuesday (February 10, 2026) afternoon for protesting an alleged surge in crimes against women in Bihar.

Members of the All India Students’ Association (AISA) and All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) took out a march from Gandhi Maidan to the Bihar Assembly, where the budget session is underway.

The protesters had planned to submit a memorandum to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, but were stopped by the police near the Dak Bungalow Crossing.

“The demonstrators gathered near Dak Bungalow Crossing and disrupted traffic movement. They attempted to breach police barricades. Despite repeated requests, they refused to vacate the road, following which mild force was used to disperse them,” SP (Central) Bhanu Pratap Singh told PTI.

He said that no lathi-charge was carried out, and the protestors submitted their memorandum to the “competent authority at the spot”.

CPI (ML) Liberation MLA Sandeep Sourav, who was among the demonstrators, said that after the Assembly elections, there has been a sharp rise in crimes against women in the state.

“Female students, working women and girls are not safe in Bihar. This alarming situation exposes the serious failure of the state’s law-and-order and women’s safety mechanism,” he alleged.

Alleging that criminals were being patronised by the NDA Government, he said the CM was failing to take action against the accused.

“The surge in violence against women after the elections shows that the government is focused on hushing up cases and protecting influential individuals rather than preventing crime,” he alleged, citing the recent death of the NEET aspirant in Patna.

“We want a judicial probe by a sitting judge of the Patna High Court or the Supreme Court. The CBI probe has been ordered only to shield the accused,” he claimed.

The NEET aspirant, a native of Jehanabad district, was found unconscious at a private hostel in the city’s Chitragupt Nagar on January 6. She died at a private hospital on January 11 after remaining in a coma for several days.

Her family alleged sexual assault and accused authorities of attempting a cover-up. Police later arrested a hostel employee in connection with the case.

In the memorandum, the Left-wing groups alleged that the police’s handling of the NEET aspirant case has “shocked Bihar”. They also cited the recent rape and murder of a six-year-old girl in Darbhanga district, stating that the incident showed even young girls were unsafe in Bihar.

“This is not merely a personal tragedy but a result of state-sponsored negligence and insensitivity. Lack of prompt and strict action emboldens perpetrators,” the memorandum claimed.

The organisations cited the recent rape of a student in Buxar and an incident in Aurangabad district last month, in which four Mahadalit students allegedly died by suicide after consuming poison.