In Bihar, policing stays handcuffed to an old law

In December 2018, young industrialist Gunjan Khemla 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, ithad 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 froma 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 lathiwas 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.