WHY TRUDEAU'S ALLEGATIONS ARE A BADGE OF HONOUR FOR LAWRANCE BISHNOI

INSTEAD OF INCAPACITATING HIM, JAILS SERVED AS INCUBATORS FOR HIS GANG TO EXPAND ITS DEPTH AND BREADTH AS HE GOT TO MAKE NEW ALLIANCES WITH FELLOW FELONS

- HARPREET BAJWA

FROM taking to crime less than two decades ago following his cousin's murder, to being named by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for contract offenses at the alleged behest of the Indian government, jailbird Lawrence Bishnoi has attained global notoriety on a scale he wouldn't have expected in a short span. Whether or not there is any grain of truth in the charges echoed by Trudeau after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police first claimed he was a hired gun of the Indian state actors, Bishnoi wouldn't possibly mind as it amplified his standing in the underworld many times over. His phenomenal rise in sin city is already spawning global curiosity, including from sections of the filmdom.

By design or otherwise, the Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad that houses him is perhaps the safest place for Bishnoi now as he does have extremely powerful enemies itching to knock him down from his high horse. The government has invoked the rarely used Section 268(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure to bar his exit from that prison. Nine years ago, he had slipped from police custody while being taken for a court hearing from the Bharatpur jail in Rajasthan to Ropar in Punjab.

According to Section 268(1) of the CrPC, the state government may at any time by general or special order, direct that a person shall not be removed from prison he/she is confined in till the order is in force. No order made under Section 267 (prisoner transit warrant) before or after the Section 268(1) order, shall have effect on such an individual.

If that passes the smell test of a state asset, consider the fact that almost all law enforcement agencies from the police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the National Investigation Agency (NIA)are probing multiple cases of murder and extortion against his gang.