J'khand: Security tightened, prohibitory orders clamped ahead of students’ protest march on Monday

The Jharkhand Police imposed prohibitory orders around the assembly premises and made elaborate security arrangements across the city in view of Monday's 'Vidhan Sabha March' called by students who have been protesting for more than two weeks against alleged irregularities in recruitment exams in the state.

BJP leader Amar Bauri alleged that the party's state unit president Aditya Sahu has been "put under house arrest".

Bauri, also the party's state general secretary, said the government will "not be able to achieve success by deploying security personnel outside Sahu’s residence".

All necessary security arrangements are being made in view of the proposed picketing at the state assembly, the officer said.

“In view of the possibility of unrest during the students’ proposed march to the state assembly, the police administration has been put on alert,” ADG (Headquarters) Manoj Kaushik said.

He urged the students, who will participate in the march to protest in a "peaceful and disciplined" manner as they have shown their discipline in the ongoing protest here for over two weeks, he said.

"It is their responsibility to ensure that anti-social elements and troublemakers are prevented from joining the march," the ADG said.

Ranchi SSP Rakesh Ranjan said that maintaining law and order during the march is everyone’s responsibility.

"We do not want a blot on the career of any student due to disruption of law and order. Barricades have been put in place at major points with the deployment of adequate police force across the city," the SSP said.

A prohibitory order has already been promulgated within a 750-metre radius of the Vidhan Sabha building from August 6 to 12. The order will be in place between 6 am and 10 pm on these days, he said.

Such an order was also imposed from Sunday midnight in Jamshedpur in view of the protest march in Ranchi, an official statement said.

The Ranchi district administration has made an appeal to agitating students to refrain from participating in any kind of aggressive demonstrations.

It also cautioned against violence and illegal activities during the protest march to the assembly.

Protesters alleged that hundreds of students coming to the state capital from different parts of Jharkhand were being stopped by the police forcefully.

The students' protest entered its 16th day on Sunday, while six of them are on hunger strike protesting against alleged irregularities in recruitment exams.