Indian police baton-charged protesting students and used water cannons in Ranchi on Monday after demonstrators broke through barricades while marching towards the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly over alleged irregularities in government recruitment examinations.
Several BJP leaders, including former Jharkhand chief minister Babulal Marandi and state party president Aditya Sahu, were also detained while protesting outside Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s residence.
The students, protesting under the banner of the JPSC-JSSC Reforms Manch, gathered at the Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium before setting off towards the Assembly. Authorities had imposed prohibitory orders around the Assembly and deployed security personnel and barricades in the area.
The protest, which entered its 17th day on Monday, centres on examinations conducted by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) and Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC).
Students are seeking the cancellation of several examinations and a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India’s federal investigative agency.
Police used batons and water cannons after protesters breached barricades as they attempted to proceed towards the Assembly, according to reports cited in the source material.
Student leader Devendra Nath Mahto, who has been on hunger strike for more than a week, travelled towards the Assembly in an ambulance and was carried on a stretcher by supporters as the march continued.
The confrontation followed several rounds of talks between representatives of student organisations and a government-appointed panel, which failed to resolve the dispute.
The state government has said it has accepted about 98 percent of the students’ demands and called on them to withdraw their protest.
The protesters have rejected that assessment, saying only three of the 13 examinations they sought to have cancelled had been scrapped.
Soren said on Sunday that “every problem can be resolved through dialogue” and assured students that those responsible for irregularities in recruitment examinations would face strict action.
Several members of the body overseeing the examinations have also stepped down.
The protests began in Ranchi on July 29 amid broader concerns over the integrity of government recruitment examinations in India, where millions compete for limited public-sector jobs.
