NEW DELHI: Police in Bihar’s Patna on Tuesday lathi-charged aspirants holding a sit-in protest for the release of supplementary results of the Teacher Recruitment Exam (TRE-3).
Carrying placards, a large number of protesters sat outside Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s official residence, a high-security zone where no demonstration is allowed. They raised slogans against the state government and the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC), which conducted the exam.
Police requested the protesters to disperse and resorted to lathi-charge when they refused, news agency PTI reported.
Protesters alleged several persons were injured in the police action. However, officials denied this claim.
Kriti Dutta, one of the candidates, said they had been protesting for the past four months.
“We have approached everybody, from ministers to secretaries and MLAs but none provided us with any solution,” Dutta was quoted as saying.
“The education minister had assured us that a letter had been sent to BPSC regarding the issue. But nothing has been done so far,” another candidate said.
BPSC conducted TRE-3 in March 2024 for 87,774 posts. However, only around 51,000 candidates have received their appointment letters so far.
‘Govt’s fashion to protect criminals and lathi-charges students’: Tejashwi Yadav
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav condemned the lathi-charge and expressed his solidarity with the protesting aspirants.
In a post on X, Yadav wrote, “We condemn police action on protesters today. When the youth demand justice, their voice is ruthlessly crushed… it has become the fashion of the NDA governments at the Centre and the state to crush the voice of the youth.”
“Students were protesting in a democratic manner today. This incompetent government nurtures and protects criminals and the corrupt, while it unleashes lathi charges on students, youths, and the unemployed. This is the time… people of the state should unite to change this incompetent government in the coming assembly polls in the state,” he added.
Bihar will go to polls later this year.