RANCHI, August 22: Ranchi Police have registered FIRs against 14 named persons and more than 200 unidentified individuals in connection with the August 21 clash between police and protesters demanding reforms in the JPSC-JSSC recruitment process, officials said.
Among those named in the FIRs are JPSC-JSSC Reforms Manch leaders Kunal Pratap Singh, Piyush Kumar and Ravindra Paswan, according to PTI.
Members of the JPSC-JSSC Reforms Manch had taken out a protest march on Friday towards the Jharkhand Public Service Commission office, accusing the Hemant Soren government of failing to properly defend in the High Court its decision to cancel several recruitment examinations.
The protest turned tense after police intervened, leading to a confrontation between the protesters and security personnel. Similar demonstrations were reported in Hazaribag and Giridih.
Leader of Opposition Babulal Marandi and former chief minister Champai Soren criticised the state government over the alleged use of force against protesting students.
Marandi accused the government of attempting to weaken the students’ movement, while Champai Soren termed the alleged incidents in Ranchi, Hazaribag and Giridih unfortunate and said they violated students’ democratic rights.
The protests followed the Jharkhand High Court’s intervention in the recruitment examination dispute. The court stayed the state government’s decision to cancel the JSSC CGL examination, providing relief to 1,932 candidates selected through the recruitment process. The court also stayed the cancellation of certain JPSC examinations. The next hearing is scheduled for September 15.
The state government had earlier cancelled 39 recruitment examinations and postponed six others citing alleged irregularities.
Several candidates who were selected through JPSC examinations and are currently serving in government posts had challenged the cancellation orders before the High Court.
The appointed candidates have maintained that they have no objection to an investigation into alleged irregularities but opposed scrapping the examinations after the selection process had been completed.
They argued that if wrongdoing is established, action should be taken against those responsible rather than candidates who secured appointments through the recruitment process.
The latest FIRs come amid continuing protests and political confrontation over the state’s recruitment examinations, with student groups demanding transparency and opposition parties seeking a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities.
