Youth protesters in Ranchi, Jharkhand, arrived at the gates of the state assembly on Monday (August 10) evening, after the day’s session was adjourned. Thousands of students and youth protesting for a fortnight marched this morning towards the Vidhan Sabha amid stringent security arrangements and surveillance drones deployed by the state government.
Students arriving from across the state to join the protest faced water cannons, tear gas and lathi charge as they marched to gherao the assembly. Led by Devendra Nath Mahato, who has been on hunger strike for 10 days, the students clashed all day with police at multiple barricades erected to stop them from reaching the assembly.
“The government is crushing our voice and using water cannon and tear gas shells,” Mahato reportedly said earlier this afternoon.
The students formed human chains with the help of volunteers to arrive at the gates of the assembly. One youth reportedly suffered a head injury during police action. Police in Ranchi have appealed to the student protesters to return to their homes as the assembly session ended at 3 pm.
Sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) preventing more than four people from gathering in one place were enforced 750 m around the assembly. Jharkhand Armed Police, Special Action Team, a specialised police unit in the state, and Jharkhand Police were deployed 500 meters from the assembly, said reports.
Protesters broke through several rounds of barricades as they moved towards the assembly through the day. Their march, which began at around 10:30 am, still continues in Ranchi.
Ranchi police clarified to the Hindu that force was used by police to disperse the large crowd. “But we won’t call it lathi charge. It was reactionary,” the publication reported Ajay Aryan, Ranchi City Deputy Superintendent of Police, as saying.
Earlier videos on social media showed students mocking the police for trying to stop them by using water cannons.
“The use of force against students protesting in Jharkhand is wrong,” Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi wrote on X Monday evening. “Students have a right to peaceful protest, and only dialogue can yield solutions,” he wrote. He later shared a “message for the students” condemning the violence and saying, “We have no confusion in our mind. Until a protest is peaceful, using violence to stop it is wrong.”
Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge on Monday reportedly said student protests in Jharkhand, Maharashtra and elsewhere reflected “immense discontent” among the youth and stressed on the need for dialogue and negotiations while those avenues remained open.
“In a democracy, there is permission for protests; people are free to hold them. The administration is taking the necessary actions to maintain law and order. There will be no use of pellet guns, tear gas, or lathi charge here,” Jharkhand minister Deepika Singh told reporters. She also said there had been plenty of talks and no breakdown in communication with the students.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal-Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation coalition government with other parties in Jharkhand has 56 MLAs in the 81-seat assembly, including 16 from the Congress party and 30 from the JMM.
The demands of the youth protesters
The protest is no longer concentrated in the capital and around, spreading further to Bokaro, Dhanbad, Hazaribagh and other districts where thousands have hit the streets. The students are demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into alleged irregularities in the conduct of examinations, including a ‘blacklisted’ company contracted to organise tests in the state.
Meanwhile, the state government took several steps over Sunday (August 9) and Monday to allay the concerns of the agitating students. Former Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) chairperson L Khiangte was arrested over allegations related to the use of TSR Data Processing Private Limited Agency, a blacklisted company, to conduct tests in the state.
The state CID is already probing the TSR matter. The state government also said on Monday that the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a central investigation agency, would also probe alleged irregularities in recruitment tests held in the state, including the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission Combined Graduate Level (CGL) examination, which was the immediate trigger bringing the students to the streets in mid-July.
A day earlier, the Jharkhand government led by Hemant Soren agreed during talks with students to cancel the 14th JPSC preliminary examination and the JPSC backlog tests from 2023 and 2025. The three-member JPSC board has stepped down as well. However, despite the chief minister’s assurance of a transparent probe into the CGL test irregularities, the protesters refused to cancel their march to the assembly.
As per reports, the state government has said that the CGL examination was conducted under the directions and supervision of the high court and the Supreme Court of India, which means it does not have the power to cancel it or hand over the case to the CBI.
Instead, the Soren government has proposed a judicial monitoring committee headed by a retired judge to resolve the issues raised by the students. The government has also announced expert committees, fast-track courts and other steps to improve the examination system, which have not been accepted by the students.
The CGL test is also conducted by the JPSC and it meant for selecting qualifying candidates for Group B and Group C jobs in the state government. Block and panchayat-leve recruitments are managed via this test.
However, students allege that the CGL test has been marred in recent times with paper leaks, leaked OMR sheets, faulty evaluation and lack of transparency in recruitments. NDTV reports that a state CID report recording irregularities in the 2024 CGL exam – 120 of 150 questions leaked – was shelved by the state government.
The 2024 CGL test paper was allegedly leaked on WhatsApp, reaching possible aspirants in Hazaribagh, Jamshedpur, Bihar, West Bengal and even Nepal. The alleged leak also led to a court case filed by a handful of aspirants.
NDTV reports that the state government “shelved” a 2025 CID report probing this alleged leak and ordered a new ‘special investigation team’ whose report dismissed the paper leak claims. Another paper leak in the JPSC that year sparked the ongoing mass protests. A 2023 CGL exam had also leaked, the report says.
“The students have offered excellent suggestions and raised valid concerns. The government is ready to address them. We simply need to wait a little and see what happens next,” said Singh, who was part of the talks with students.
Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha (JLKM) and the marching students demand all exams connected to the blacklisted entity be cancelled.
As per a report in the New Indian Express, TDPL had previously been blacklisted by the JSSC in May 2025 over alleged irregularities but was subsequently selected for JPSC examination-related work.
The Cockroach Janta Party has extended solidarity to the students protesting in Jharkhand. Police also detained Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Aditya Sahu and Babulal Marandi as they protested outside Soren’s residence over exam irregularities. BJP’s Jharkhand unit spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo said he and other leaders were under house arrest since the morning.
Meanwhile, Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju has said the government was ready for a discussion in Lok Sabha on the student protests and police action across the country and Union Home Minister Amit Shah would reply to the debate, provided the Opposition promises not to disrupt.
Also Read: Dharmendra Pradhan Resigns Amid NEET Row, CJP Calls Off Protest https://www.vibesofindia.com/dharmendra-pradhan-resigns-after-month-long-student-protest-neet-row/
