As per the police, six to seven boys were demanding that recruitment be done in Group D exams for railways has not happened from last several months

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New Delhi, January 27

The UP Police arrested a group of students who, while protesting against the railway recruitment process, allegedly tried to stop a train. 

The incident happened in Chota Baghada area of Prayagraj in UP. The students supported by youth groups sat on a dharna before Kanpur Intercity train and started raising slogans. Forces of many police stations along with government railway police (GRP) and railway protection force (RPF) reached the spot and tried to pacify the protestors. The protest continued for around-one-and-a-half hours. 

The crackdown on the students however got captured in a several videos that went viral on social media. In the purported videos, it could be seen that policemen entered the rooms of students to detain them. The police are purportedly seen flogging students, breaking down their doors and taking them out.

The police said the incident is related to a group of boys who were protesting to get recruitment in railways. 

As per the police, six to seven boys were demanding that recruitment be done in Group D exams for railways has not happened from last several months. The police denied that the boys however had stopped the train and confirmed that the train reached on time. 

The aspirants claimed that notification issued by RRB on February 28, 2019 for 35,277 vacant posts under CBT-1 and CBT-2 phases. The CBT-1 was held in six phases between December 28, 2020 and July 31, 2021. The result was CBT-1 was declared on January 15, 2022. The CBT-2 phase of exam is scheduled to be held between February 15 and 19.

The recruitment included 12 vacancies on different grades which were divided into seven slots. As per the notification, CBT-1 was a screening exam and its marks were not added to the main examination. RRB was to qualify 20 times the number of posts zone wise in phase one and eight times the posts in phase which, the aspirants alleged, the RRB failed to do.

This resulted in selection of high merit candidates in each slot in the first phase of exam. In such a condition, the real number of selected aspirants was quite less than the promised vacancies, the candidates alleged. In the first phase of examination, 80,643 candidates were declared as successful.

The police added that it needs a detailed investigation to see which boys had led to a protest. 

This led to an uproar by several citizens and opposition parties of Congress and Samajwadi Party in UP. 

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted, “It is condemnable that policemen entered hostels and lodges of students, beat them up and indulged in vandalism. The administration should stop this repressive action. The youth have the right to talk about unemployment, and I am with them on this.”

 “It is condemnable that to remove students protesting about the results for NTPC, they were beaten up in a barbaric lathicharge. Innocent students were beaten up after police entered a lodge in Chota Baghada. The youth will reject the BJP, which suppresses them at every step. There will be a revolution by the youth, and there will be change in 2022,” the Samajwadi Party tweeted. 

The police added that they are in the process to identify more persons behind the incident.