RANCHI Aug 21: Hundreds of students gathered at Gandhi Maidan here on Friday to protest the Jharkhand High Court’s stay on the cancellation of JPSC examinations and appointments, with the demonstration turning tense after police seized an effigy of Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
The protest was organised following a call by the JPSC-JSSC Reform Forum, which urged students to burn effigies of the Chief Minister across all 24 districts of Jharkhand in opposition to the court’s decision.
Students assembled at Gandhi Maidan carrying an effigy of Soren as part of the protest. In view of the demonstration, the district administration deployed a large police contingent at the spot.
Several senior police officials, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police, were present. Water cannons and women police personnel were also kept on standby.
Tension escalated when protesters moved forward with the effigy and police personnel seized it. Scuffles subsequently broke out between the two sides, following which police resorted to a lathi-charge to disperse the demonstrators from the ground.
Police faced difficulties in controlling the protesters as students repeatedly regrouped at different locations across the large ground and continued their demonstration.
Several students remained inside Gandhi Maidan and attempted to continue the protest even as police personnel moved in to disperse them and maintained a heavy presence in the area.
Reacting to the High Court’s order, BJP spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo accused the Hemant Soren-led government of misleading the protesting students.
“Everything here is happening just as the state government had scripted. They fooled the protesting students… Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s government has tried to cheat the students’ movement and hatched a conspiracy to end the movement,” Shahdeo told ANI.
The protest comes amid continuing tensions over recruitment examinations and appointments in the state, with student groups demanding action on issues concerning the examination process.
