At least over a dozen of ITI Diploma holders and students of the State got injured during a protest march at Birsa Chowk on Monday after police launched lathicharge in an effort to stop them from going towards Mahatma Gandhi Road, popularly known as Main Road. However, Police have claimed that only four students received minor injuries with none of them in danger or hospitalized.
City SP Kishore Kaushal said that the protesting students remained quiet and under control until there was a political ignition from within the protestors. “The students were protesting quietly in peace and we faced no problem of someone entertaining its constitutional rights peacefully. But they turned out of control around 3 PM and demanded to let them go and block Main Road, which is a restricted zone for these activities. Some politically motivated elements used girl protestors as a shield and left no option with us than to impose mild lathicharge,” said Kaushal on Monday.
State wing of All India Students Federation (AISF) and All India Youth Federation (AIYF) have condemned the lathicharge by the police, calling it a suppressive move. AISF National President Saiyad Waliullah Qadri condemned police action as suppressive move and called it kidnapping someone’s constitutional rights. “Education has been turned such a field that dalits and scheduled castes/scheduled tribes have always remained at receiving ends. The future of these students is at stake and government doing nothing. This is a time when students will have to come forward to protect education system of the country,” said Qadri.
He also accused the police of not being prepared with women police despite the fact that almost half of the technical institute students coming to protest were girls. “They (police) had been given prior information about the protest. This is a matter which needed to be raised during ongoing Assembly session. This is why we were here. But police came unprepared and also were preventing us to entertain our democratic rights,” said Qadri.
Over 1,000 students gathered at Birsa Chowk were the Diploma holders and current batch students of different ITI and Polytechnic institutes of the State including those in Muri, Rangarh, Chaibasa and others. “Their demand is so genuine that government needs to listen to them in no time. Their degrees are not valid, they can’t get a job, that also after getting education from government-built colleges and institutes. It is a chaos created by government itself, and ironical,” said AIYF State President Gautam Khan.