C ops lathicharge protesting candidates, dozen injured
Protestors blame government for not taking corrective measure on time
LUCKNOW : It was police versus the unarmed protestors on the Lucknow streets on Friday.
These protestors, in thousands, had gathered outside the Vidhan Bhawan just a day after the high court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the alleged anomalies in recruitment of 68,500 assistant teachers in primary schools of the state.
These candidates came out on the streets to register their protest as they believed it was government’s negligence that led to this situation and that no corrective measure was taken on time.
Police resorted to lathicharge on the unarmed candidates during which around a dozen of them sustained serious injuries.
“Due to their protest, commuters faced a lot of problem. Protesters wanted to have a dialogue with senior officials. As a result police applied canes to disperse the agitators,” said Sarvesh Mishra, SP East.
According to protesters, police chased them on the Vidhan Sabha Marg and beat them up with canes.
They did not even spare some of the women candidates. The injured candidates were later rushed to Shyama Prasad Mukherjee hospital where doctors attended upon them.
The candidates also claimed that police took a dozen of them into custody and they were taken to Hazratganj police station.
The protesters had started assembling outside the Vidhan Sabha since Friday afternoon to The demonstrators, in thousands, had gathered outside the Vidhan Bhawan in Lucknow just a day after the high court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the alleged anomalies in the recruitment of 68,500 assistant teachers in the primary schools of UP.
In the police lathicharge, a dozen of them sustained serious injuries.
stage protest in order to draw government’s attention towards their cause.
Reportedly, the minimum eligibility criteria at the time of advertisement of posts for assistant teachers in primary schools was 40% to 45% and later the state government had reduced the bar between 30% and 33% marks.
Of the 68,500 teaching posts, 40,000 recruitments were done leaving 28,000 posts vacant. The recruitment exam was conducted on May 27, 2018 at 248 centres spread across 18 divisions of Uttar Pradesh and the result was declared on August 13. Meanwhile, the high court has directed the CBI director to complete the probe within six months and also submit the progress report on November 26, the next date of hearing of the case.
“It is further directed that necessary action, in accordance with the law, be taken by the competent authority against officers who are found involved in corrupt practices,” said Justice Irshad Ali while pronouncing the order on a bunch of writ petitions filed by Sonika Devi, a scheduled caste (SC) candidate, and others.
Devi had filed the petition after it came to light that her answer sheet had been changed during the process of evaluation.