Patna: Batons rain on teacher job aspirants, 20 hurt

PATNA: The Patna police on Monday used water cannon and resorted to heavy lathicharge at Dak Bungalow crossing in the city to disperse thousands of teacher aspirants, who have qualified the Central Teachers' Eligibility Test (CTET) and BTET and were demanding job notification.
The protest paralysed traffic on Fraser Road, Exhibition Road and in the nearby areas of the city, even as one of the protesters, identified as Anisur Rahman of Darbhanga, was mercilessly caned by ADM (law & order) K K Singh, who did not spare hitting even the Tricolour, the 22-year-old was holding to protest and protect himself.
Anisur, who has qualified both the CTET and BTET, was admitted to the PMCH's emergency after he sustained a head injury.
Holding placards, the protesters raised slogans like 'Bahana nahi bahali chahiye', 'Abhyarthiyo ne tthana hai satve charan ki prathmik vigyapti le kar jana hai'. The police personnel dragged some of the protesters and thrashed them with baton, as they tried to break police barricades.
Guilty will be punished: Tejashwi
The situation turned bad after some of the alleged protestors pelted policemen with stones. In retaliation, the police used water cannons and resorted to lathicharge to prevent them from marching towards the Raj Bhavan. The video of the incident went viral, prompting deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav to told the media an inquiry has been ordered as what triggered such a violent reaction on the part of the ADM.
Tejashwi, who has promised 10 lakh jobs and additional 10 lakh employment opportunities, assured stern action against the officials, if found guilty. The incident invited condemnation from opposition parties. In the video, the ADM is seen hitting Anisur five times in the head and upper arm with a stick. Blood started oozing out of his head and ears. The other police personnel were seen stopping the other protesters from coming to his help. Later, a policeman snatched the tricolour from the injured protester. Saurav Kumar from Jhajha said 20 youths sustained injuries. While eight of them have been admitted to the hospital, others were discharged after the first aid.
“We are waiting for the recruitment for the last three years. The previous education minister had promised that the notification for appointment in the the 7th phase will be released soon, but nothing happened. We had been protesting at the designated Gardanibagh for the last 28 days, but the government ignored our demand,” he told TOI. DM Chandrashekhar Singh said an inquiry committee comprising Patna Central SP and DDC has been constituted to inquire into the matter. He said two separate groups started protest march from Gandhi Maidan to Dak Bungalow crossing and tried to proceed towards the Raj Bhavan.
“One group comprised CTET- BTET candidates seeking jobs and the other of JAP (Loktantrik) party workers,” he said. Kotwali police station SHO Sunil Kumar Singh said no one was detained. “We tried to maintain law and order and stopped the protesters from entering the no-protest zone. We were forced to use water cannons and lathis as the protesters started pelting stones and injured 3-4 police personnel,” he said. The JAP (Loktantrik) party workers had also taken out a Raj Bhavan march against various policies of the central government and other issues related to unemployment, price rise and Agnipath recruitment policy.
Watch Bihar: Patna ADM thrashes protesting aspirant teacher, video goes viral