U'khand: Protest by youths against recruitment exam paper leaks turns violent

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A protest by youths against recruitment examination paper leaks in Uttarakhand turned violent when the protestors clashed with police personnel and hurled stones at them here on Thursday.

The police resorted to a lathicharge to disperse the protestors. Some youths were injured in police action.

The clash between the protesters and the police caused a long traffic jam from Clock Tower to Rajpur Road.

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Unemployed youths had staged a dharna here on Wednesday demanding a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in different recruitment examinations held by the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission.

Reacting to the police lathicharge on protesting youths, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said they were subjected to brutality for raising their genuine demands.

"The BJP government's corruption in Uttarakhand is ruining the lives of youths. They were brutally lathicharged when they were staging a demonstration with their genuine demands against paper leak of recruitment examinations," Gandhi said in a statement.

The youths were angry as police had allegedly forced them to lift their dharna on Wednesday.

The Uttarakhand Congress too reacted sharply to the "coercive manner in which the voice of youths was being silenced" by the state government.

The party will hold demonstrations in every district on Friday in protest against the atrocity against the youths, PCC vice president Mathura Dutt Joshi said.

Earlier on Thursday, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami appealed to the youths not to let themselves be misled by anyone, saying efforts are on to ensure that recruitment examinations are held in the state in a transparent way.

"We are soon going to bring the strictest anti-copying law in the country. It will be ensured that use of unfair means in recruitment examinations stops completely and they are held in a transparent manner. We will see to it that no injustice is done to the youth," Dhami said.

"Our government is making decisions in favour of the youth. We have granted reservation to our sisters and daughters in government jobs. Everyone's interest will be protected. My request to the youth is that they should not allow themselves to be misled by anyone," he said.

The government has got irregularities in recruitment examinations thoroughly probed and the guilty have been sent behind bars, the chief minister said.

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