Indian pupils in kidnap protest

Children say they are scared to go to school

More than 1,000 schoolchildren have marched on the governor's residence in India's Bihar state in protest at the kidnapping of five children.

The protesters, who marched with placards asking "Who's next?", have also boycotted lessons, staged fasts and held prayer meetings.

Bihar is widely believed India's most lawless state where extortionists and kidnappers regularly target the rich.

The abductions have become a major issue in upcoming state elections.

Police vow

Hundreds of mothers joined the children for Friday's protest at the residence of Governor Buta Singh in Bihar's state capital, Patna.

We have come together to express our solidarity with the parents whose children have gone missing Ritu, Bihar mother

In winter rain, the uniformed children demanded that next month's elections be postponed until the kidnapped children are found.

"I feel scared to go to school in the morning. Why are we being kidnapped?" asked one student, Aman Srivastava.

The protests were sparked by the kidnapping of 14-year-old Kishalay Gupta from outside his Patna home on 19 January.

Five students in all have been kidnapped from different places in the state over the past two weeks.

Police spokesman Neelmani Kumar told the AFP news agency: "We're near to solving it all and once we get a breakthrough in one case we'll solve the chain of kidnappings."

Mr Yadav accuses opponents of hijacking the issue

A delegation of 10 students and five representatives of children's organisations were allowed in to meet the governor.

They said they would call for a boycott of state elections unless the governor intervened to secure the safe return of the kidnapped students.

Public School Students Welfare Association chief, BK Singh, said: "It is a matter of serious concern that the state police still does not have any clue about the whereabouts of Kishalay and the other students."

The BBC's Jyotsna Singh in Delhi says the governor told the delegation he was convening a high-level meeting of state officials on Saturday to discuss the issue.

The abductions have become the key issue for the polls, in which the Rashtriya Janata Dal, headed by Bihar's leading political figure, the federal railways minister, Laloo Prasad Yadav, is seeking re-election.

Mr Yadav has said opponents are trying to use the issue to blacken the government's image.

Senior opposition leaders, such as former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, have raised questions about the deteriorating law and order situation in Bihar.

In November, about 20,000 doctors in government and private hospitals in Bihar went on strike in protest at the killing of a local surgeon.