India students clash with police over exam scandal

Jharkhand was convulsed by fresh turmoil on Monday as fierce clashes erupted between police and agitating students outside the state's new assembly building in Ranchi, reigniting a movement that has simmered for over a fortnight against allegations of leaked exam papers, corruption, and sweeping irregularities in the state's recruitment examinations.

Thousands of students and job aspirants converged on the capital from across the state under a pre-announced march, only to be met with water cannons, tear gas, and baton charges as they attempted to breach barricades en route to the new legislative complex, transforming the area into a virtual battleground. The protesters, who have sustained their campaign against repeated paper leaks in examinations conducted by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) and the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC), are demanding the wholesale annulment of the compromised tests, a transparent recruitment overhaul, and a CBI or judicial probe to unmask those orchestrating the scandal. Several students sustained injuries, including one reported head wound, even as many demonstrators defiantly sang the national anthem and danced in the path of water cannon jets, evoking scenes reminiscent of past student uprisings.

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The unrest has already claimed significant institutional scalps: three JPSC members resigned on Sunday, following the July departure of then-chairperson L Khiangte, who was subsequently arrested by state CID on charges of complicity in the recruitment fraud. While the state government maintains it has conceded roughly 98 percent of the protesters' demands -- including scrapping the 14th JPSC preliminary exam and backlog recruitment tests from 2023 and 2025 -- it has resisted unilaterally cancelling the contentious JSSC-CGL examination, citing court directives, and has instead proposed a monitoring committee under a retired judge alongside a possible Enforcement Directorate probe, a compromise students have flatly rejected in favour of their core CBI demand. The standoff has since spilled into state politics, with former chief minister and BJP leader Babulal Marandi branding the Hemant Soren government's response authoritarian, even as Soren himself has appealed for dialogue over confrontation, insisting the crisis can only be resolved through negotiation rather than force.