FIR against Tejashwi Yadav, Tej Pratap after RJD leaders clash with cops

Tejashwi Yadav has claimed that the Bihar Special Armed Police Bill is a "draconian act" that will give "absolute powers" to the police.

A First Information Report (FIR) was lodged in Bihar on Wednesday against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders Tejashwi Yadav, Tej Pratap Yadav, and other unnamed party workers, news agency ANI reported. This comes after a protest led by opposition legislators against the police bill, passed by the state Assembly, led to unruly scenes yesterday.

Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav along with the grand alliance legislators hold placards as they stage a protest outside State Assembly House during the budget session, in Patna on Tuesday. (ANI)

The Bihar Special Armed Police Bill, which seeks to give more teeth to the state police, was passed on Tuesday. This led to the House witnessing unprecedented turmoil — order was thrown into disarray and multiple adjournments declared as opposition RJD leaders raised slogans demanding that the Nitish Kumar-led government withdraw the bill.

In the meanwhile, protesting legislators laid siege to the Speaker's chamber, news agencies reported, and the police had to be called in to physically evict them. RJD MLA Satish Kumar was seen being carried outside from the Assembly on a stretcher; the leader claimed that he was "manhandled by police and local goons" inside the premises during the protest. Women MLAs of the Opposition were carried out of the assembly building by women security personnel.

In a tweet early this morning, Yadav slammed the alleged police action against the legislators, and claimed that the Bihar Special Armed Police Bill is a "draconian act" that will give "absolute powers" to the police to act as a "veritable arm" of chief minister Nitish Kumar's "dictatorial politics".

He also shared a clip which, according to him, showed the "shameless" police blocking RJD MLAs inside the House.

Bihar Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Singh, however, highlighted the incident of RJD MLAs allegedly confining him to his chamber inside the legislature building premises and said that such acts were condemnable. Meanwhile, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said that he had never seen such activities inside the Assembly before.

Other opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Congress, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the Trinamool Congress, and the Shiv Sena have also joined the RJD in condemning the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Janta Dal (United) (JD-U) government in Bihar over Tuesday evening's incident.

In a joint statement, the parties stated: "This is an unconstitutional bill that effectively transforms the police force into an armed militia to harass, suppress and crackdown on academics, activists, journalists, the political opposition and all those who dare to speak truth to power."