A cropped police press release has ignited Bihar's sharpest political exchange of the week. RJD leader and Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav on Thursday, 24 September 2026, publicly accused LJP MP Shambhavi Chaudhary of deliberately removing the names of four accused men from a Bihar Police press release — related to the alleged sexual assault of a minor girl in her Samastipur Lok Sabha constituency — before posting it on her Facebook page.

The cropped press release and what Tejashwi alleges

In his post, Tejashwi states plainly: the Samastipur MP took an official Bihar Police communication — one that named all four accused — and 'cropped' (his word) out those names before sharing it publicly. His charge is that she did so deliberately, to prevent the accused men's names and caste from becoming widely known.

The four accused named by Tejashwi in the post are: Rahul Paswan, Awadhesh Paswan, Rambabu Sahni, and Vikas Sharma. He argues that the caste identities of these men would have created political difficulties for Shambhavi Chaudhary and her party chief, Union minister and LJP national president Chirag Paswan.

'A woman MP, instead of taking the side of a minor girl victim, is indirectly shielding criminals,' Tejashwi wrote. He asks pointedly: 'अब ऐसे में आप क्या कहेंगे?' ('What would you say to this?') — and then poses the sharper question: 'Will this government and its custodians stop such rapes and crimes?'

Ashok Chaudhary and Chirag Paswan drawn into the crossfire

Tejashwi does not stop at the MP. He names Ashok Chaudhary — Bihar state minister and Shambhavi's father — and Chirag Paswan, calling it 'unsurprising' if the two were to publicly honour the MP for what he sarcastically describes as the 'historic and great work' of not disclosing the accused's identities.

The broadside is calculated: it links a constituency-level controversy directly to two of Bihar's most prominent NDA ministers, framing the alleged act not as an individual lapse but as a systemic, caste-driven political calculation within the ruling alliance.

Bihar's recurring fault line: caste, crime, and political accountability

This exchange follows a well-worn but high-voltage pattern in Bihar politics. The RJD and LJP have clashed repeatedly over law-and-order failures and accusations that the ruling coalition shields accused persons based on caste calculations. Cases involving violence against women have been a particular flashpoint, with the opposition frequently using police disclosures to question the NDA government's commitment to women's safety.

Shambhavi Chaudhary, among the youngest members of the current Lok Sabha, has been positioned by the LJP as a symbol of youth and women's representation in Bihar. That framing now sits in direct tension with Tejashwi's charge that she shielded men accused of the sexual assault of a minor. As of publication, neither the LJP nor Shambhavi Chaudhary had issued a public response to the allegations.

Whether Bihar Police confirms the details of the press release in question, or whether the LJP offers a rebuttal, will determine how long this controversy holds political oxygen — but right now, it has the attention of the whole state.