Amid the rising heat over the Bihar Public Service Commission examination protest, the Patna Police on Sunday booked 21 named and 600 unnamed individuals for inciting students and causing chaos. Among those booked include Jan Suraj Party chief Prashant Kishor and the state chief.
According to the information, the FIR has been registered in the Gandhi Maidan Police Station in Patna. Among 21 named individuals include:
- Manoj Bharti (President Jan Suraj Party)
- Rahmanshu Mishra, Coaching Director
- Nikhil Mani Tiwari
- Subhash Kumar Thakur
- Shubham Snehil
- Prashant Kishore (and 2 bouncers who were with Prashant Kishore)
- Anand Mishra
- R K Mishra (Rakesh Kumar Mishra)
- Vishnu Kumar
- Sujeet Kumar (Tsunami Coaching)
On December 28, 2024, at 5:30 PM, Jan Suraj Party's request to hold a Student Parliament near Gandhi Statue, Gandhi Maidan, was denied by the Patna District Administration. Despite this, on December 29, 2024, they gathered an unauthorized crowd, led a procession to JP Golambar without permission, blocked roads, damaged loudspeakers, and scuffled with officials, causing law-and-order issues. The crowd was later dispersed near JP Golambar.
Protest, slugfest, water cannons...
Earlier in the evening, the protestors started the march to encircle Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's residence during which the students and police came face-to-face. A minor altercation erupted after the students broke the barricade. However, the authorities informed that the chief secretary of the Bihar government would meet a delegation of 5 members regarding the demands of the students.
Following the announcement of negotiations, Kishor called upon students to stop the protest until the negotiations took place. Kishor said, "The government officials present here have assured us that the government has agreed to discuss the demands of the students and the five-member students' committee will go and talk to the Chief Secretary right now so that some decision can be taken on the problems and demands of the students... If after talking to the Secretary, the students or the student organization of BPSC candidates are not satisfied, then tomorrow morning a decision will be made on the further protest...I would request the students not to do anything right now that is not legal... If the decision is not in favour of the students, if any injustice is done to the students, then we will stand with them with full strength...I am with the students..."
However, the students continued to protest and refused to leave the agitation site. One of the aspirants said, "We don't want to be the victim of their (political leaders) politics...We have only one demand, we want re-examination...An attempt is being made to divert the issue...We don't want politics in this issue, we only want re-exam..."
What did police say on lathi charge?
Taking action, the police used water cannons to disperse the crowd of protestors and a minor lathi charge was also used. Talking about police actions, Patna Central SP Sweety Sahrawat said, "There was no lathicharge, they (candidates) were repeatedly requested to move from here... We told them to put their demands in front of us, we are ready for talks, but they remained adamant. The candidates pushed the administration... In the end we were forced to use water cannons. Even though that, we intervened and removed them, but even then they did not move. Now we are getting the place vacated."
Why candidates are protesting?
The candidates have been protesting for more than a week seeking the cancellation and re-examination of the 70th Integrated Combined Competitive (Preliminary) Examination (CCE), 2024 conducted by the BPSC over allegations of question paper leak. The protesters have been staging a dharna at Gardani Bagh for several days. They contend that cancellation should be ordered across the board since re-examination for just one centre would go against the principle of a "level playing field"
