Munger, July 17 -- Amid rising crime cases in Bihar, Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh on Thursday said that incidents can occur due to mutual disputes in any country.

He claimed that such incidents are not unusual and stressed that action is taken immediately against those responsible.

"How many kidnappings used to happen in the state earlier? If I hit him, they hit me then is this a crime? This is a mutual dispute. Incidents can happen due to mutual disputes in any country in the world. But here action is taken immediately. The people who commit the incidents are arrested," Lalan Singh said.

His comments came after a prisoner, Chandan Mishra, was shot by unidentified attackers while on parole for medical treatment. Mishra was...