Patna: Police on Wednesday, January 8 filed a fresh FIR against Jan Suraaj party Chief Prashant Kishor who is on a hunger strike, demanding the chief minister to meet with the student’s delegation over alleged irregularities in 70th combined competitive exam of Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC).
The fresh FIR lodged against Kishor and around 200 of his supporters’ deals with the alleged ruckus created by Kishore and his accomplices in the Patna civil court on Monday, January 6, marking third such development in the last 10 days.
In the FIR filed, police have alleged that Kishor supporters forcibly entered the court premises and created a ruckus there, obstructing the government functioning. The FIR further reads that the supporters of Kishor manhandled on duty policemen, resulting in injuries to a few.
However, refuting the claims, Jan Suraaj’s working president Manoj Bharti said that Prashant Kishor helped the police rather than provoking the crowd against them.
“The reality about the FIR against Prashant Kishor can be seen in the video clips from there. You will realise that Kishor helped the police rather than provoking the crowd. The police personnel present there also acknowledged this. They thanked Kishor for assisting them. The FIR is baseless,” Bharti told media personnel.
Police arrested Prashan Kishor in the wee hours of Monday and subsequently produced him before the court which granted him bail. Kishor however refused to sign the bail bond which put a rider that he would not participate in any agitation.
The court however removed the rider later in the day, paving way for Kishor unconditional release after a day long drama. Kishor was taken to Patna’s Medanta hospital on Tuesday morning for checkups and was subsequently admitted there after his health deteriorated.
Kishor started an indefinite hunger strike in support of the students, demanding cancellation of the examination at Gandi Maidan on January 2.
Earlier, students started a protest demanding cancellation of the BPSC examination held across over 900 centres on December 13. The students raised their concerns over alleged irregularities at one of the examination centre in Patna. The protest intensified in the last week of December, prompting the government to invite the students for talks.
A delegation of the student then subsequently met with the state Chief Secretary Amrit Lal Meena, however no concrete solution was agreed upon. The BPSC on the other hand organised a re-exam for selected students on January 4, though only half of the registered student turned out for the examination.
Meanwhile on Wednesday a delegation led by Jan Suraaj Party president Manoj Bharti submitted a memorandum to the state Chief Secretary. The memorandum contained the five point demands related to the student protest.
“In our memorandum, we told the Chief Secretary about the demands of the aspirants for which Prashant Kishor has been on a hunger strike. The health of Prashant Kishor is deteriorating as he has been on a hunger strike for the last six days. Keeping this in mind, the demands of the students should be considered and a five-member delegation should be allowed to meet the Chief Minister,” said Bharti.
Throwing his weight behind the ongoing protest of the students, independent Member of Parliament (MP) from Purnea, Pappu Yadav on Tuesday also called for a statewide shutdown in support of the agitation on January 12.
This comes amidst the Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a petition over alleged irregularities in the said examination, stating that it will be appropriate for the petitioner to approach the Patna high court.
Meanwhile reacting to the student’s demand, BJP state president and Minister for Revenue and Land Reforms in Bihar Government, Dilip Jaiswal on Wednesday said that the government has not ruled out the option of exam cancellation.
“It’s another matter that re-examination was conducted, the investigation is being carried out and if any irregularities come out in the investigation, the exams could be cancelled, the government has not ruled out this, said Jaiswal.
The BJP leader further trained guns at the opposition leaders, asserting that the opposition leaders are using the student agitation to establish themselves. “I would request the students to have faith in the BPSC and the government and not to be misled,” said Jaiswal.
