Pappu Yadav on hunger strike in Bihar’s Supaul jail seeking hygienic conditions

Patna police had arrested Yadav on Tuesday morning for violation of Covid-19 containment protocols during the state-wide lockdown. Hours later, he was given bail at Pirbahore police station on the condition that he will make himself available whenever required during the investigation of the case.

PATNA: Former Bihar parliamentarian and politician Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav started a hunger strike on Wednesday alleging lack of hygiene and drinking water in Supaul jail, where he was sent late Tuesday night in a 32-year old kidnapping case following his arrest in Patna for alleged violation of Covid-19 lockdown norms.

Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) president Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav was produced at CJM court in Madhepura via video conferencing.

On late Tuesday night, Yadav was sent to 14-days in judicial custody by a local Madhepura court, which also cancelled his bail-bond in a case of kidnapping of one Rajkumar Yadav in 1989. Within 12 hours of his arrival in the jail, Pappu Yadav sat on hunger strike demanding clean drinking water and hygienic conditions in the jail’s toilet and washroom. He also tweeted on Wednesday morning that jail authorities were not providing him with proper medical treatment for an old wound in one of his legs.

Last night Yadav pleaded before the Madhepura court to send him to medical college and sadar hospital on medical grounds. He also cited his petition pending before the Patna high court challenging the non-bailable warrant issued against him in the kidnapping case. However, the court decided to send him to judicial custody.

While he was pleading his case before the court through video conference, several of his supporters staged a protest outside the court in defiance of the lockdown norms. Earlier in the day, hundreds of his supporters had blocked the national highway in Vaishali when the police was escorting him through the district on the way to Madhepura. And a few hours before that, Patna police had to lathicharge workers of his JAP party at Gandhi Maidan, where they were protesting his arrest. Yadav is the president of a local political outfit named Jan Adhikar Party (Loktantrik).

Patna police had arrested Yadav on Tuesday morning for violation of Covid-19 containment protocols during the state-wide lockdown. Hours later, he was given bail at Pirbahore police station on the condition that he will make himself available whenever required during the investigation of the case.

Patna police then handed over his custody to Madhepura police, which had declared him absconding in the 1989 abduction case. Udakishunganj sub divisional police officer (SDPO) Satish Kumar said the Madhepura court had cancelled Yadav’s bail-bond and issued non-bailable warrant against him in September 2020 and on March 22, a property attachment warrant was issued against him by the court.

Yadav’s wife Ranjit Ranjan, a former Congress MP from Supaul, said she “feared” for her husband’s life and alleged a “big conspiracy” behind his arrest. She said she will hold the state’s national democratic government led by chief minister Nitish Kumar responsible if anything untoward happened to Yadav in custody.