In Bihar, policing stays handcuffed to an old law

In December 2018, young industrialist Gunjan Khemka fell to a single headshot outside his factory in Hajipur. In January 2021, Indigo’s Patna station manager Rupesh Kumar Singh was riddled with six bullets at his apartment gate. By mid-2025, it had become all too common: A JD(U) district secretary in Khagaria, two businessmen in Chhapra, a BJP general secretary in Patna, and finally, Gopal Khemka (Gunjan’s father) shot as he stepped out of his SUV, 50 metres from a police outpost. Each killing was quicker than the last and carried the same message: We can kill whoever we ‘want, whenever we choose, and the law will arrive just in time to photograph the corpse.

- Khagesh Gautam

A pattern emerges across these six high-profile murders: textbook precision, minimal forensic residue, no reliable witnesses, and investigations that collapse before reaching a judge. This is the Patna Protocol — a doctrine of strategic gangland violence, not rooted in bravado or political conspiracy, but in institutional failure — a police force still handcuffed to the 1861 Police Act, drafted by colonial administrators less interested in solving crimes than in keeping a conquered population subdued.

This law's first principle was control, not protection. After the 1857 rebellion, the British needed a constabulary to quell uprisings, enforce taxes, and watch the population. Scientific investigation and specialised homicide squads weren't part of the script. The genius of the design lay in under-training: A constable with a lathi was a symbol that Crown authority stretched from cantonment to every muddy lane. That legacy still defines the Bihar Police. Patrolling is mandatory; investigation is optional.