ABVP march to Hemant Soren's home ends in scuffle, detentions
Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad on Friday scuffled with police during a march towards Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren's residence in Ranchi, where
Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad on Friday scuffled with police during a march towards Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren's residence in Ranchi, where they were protesting in support of students alleging irregularities in recruitment examinations. An official said 8 to 10 ABVP members were detained after they tried to break through barricades near the chief minister's residence. The protest was organised by the ABVP's Jharkhand unit to express solidarity with students and job aspirants who have been demonstrating for more than two weeks. Read Full Story They are demanding the cancellation of the 14th JPSC examination, and the agitation over the issue entered its 15th day on Saturday after talks between the state government and the protesters failed to break the deadlock.
The march began at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee University and moved towards the chief minister's residence. Police stopped the protesters near Sidho Kanho Park, around 500 metres from the residence, to prevent them from crossing the barricades. "ABVP members scuffled with the police and tried to break through barricades near the chief minister's residence. Eight to ten members have been detained and will be taken to Lalpur police station," a police officer said. Those detained included ABVP office-bearers Pradeep Shekhawat, Pashupatinath Upmanyu and Prakash Tuti. Deputy Superintendent of Police (Headquarters) Ajay Aryan told PTI, "They were taking out a protest march from Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee University to the CM's residence.
They have been stopped near Sidho Kanho Park to avoid any untoward situation." During the protest, ABVP members raised slogans demanding the chief minister's resignation and cancellation of the 14th JPSC examinations. A detained ABVP member alleged that police were "hell-bent to suppress students' voice". An ABVP leader said, "We have no problem with the police, our fight is with the government and its policies. For over two weeks, students and job aspirants have been holding protests at the Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium here. They are demanding the cancellation of the 14th JPSC examination, but the state government is not considering their demands.
We organised the march to show solidarity with the agitators." The protest march, the police action and the detentions came as the wider agitation over the recruitment examination issue continued without a breakthrough. Ends
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