Protest against SSC ‘leak’ turns violent

NEW DELHI: A protest by students against the scam in the SSC (Staff Selection Commission) examination turned violent on Saturday, prompting the police to lathicharge a few students.

Demanding a Supreme Courtmonitored probe by the CBI into the matter, hundreds of SSC aspirants staged a protest at Jantar Mantar, accusing the government of failing to prevent the alleged paper leak.

Some protesters alleged that a group of students attempted to branch out the protest to CP, following which the police resorted to force and beat up a few protesters.

Police, however, denied using force and said that the protesters were dealt with “restraint” and in a “professional” manner.

In a statement, a committee of SSC aspirants condemned the lathicharge and manhandling of some students by the Delhi Police.

“We held a gathering of thousands of students protesting against SSC scam at Delhi’s San- sad Marg. We have been demanding an independent and time bound CBI investigation in the conduct of all SSC examinations. Even after protesting for over a month, the government has not agreed to our demands,” the statement read.

Sucheta De, national president of All India Students’ Association (AISA), who was also present at the protest said, “Several of our mates were detained and all of us were beaten up and pushed.”

Ajay Chaudhary, joint commissioner of police (New Delhi) said that the protest permissions were sought by Yogendra Yadav’s political party Swaraj India. They, he said, applied for permission to stage a peaceful protest at Parliament Street on March 31.

“They had a series of meetings with the New Delhi district police and they were advised to go to Ramlila Maidan as protests have been banned by the NGT on Jantar Mantar. However, they insisted and organised the protest,” Choudhary said.