Pioneer News Service
Ranchi
Leader of Opposition in the Jharkhand Assembly Babulal Marandi on Tuesday reached the office of the Ranchi Sadar Circle Officer-cum-Magistrate along with BJP leaders and demanded an impartial inquiry and registration of an FIR against those allegedly involved in disrupting a students’ protest and misbehaving with women participants.
Marandi alleged that students protesting against alleged irregularities in the JPSC and JSSC-CGL examinations had faced “one-sided action” by the magistrate deployed during a recent effigy-burning programme, while those who allegedly disrupted the protest were not booked.
He accused the officials of acting under government pressure and said they should work according to the law instead of becoming “puppets of the government”.
“We have come to make the officials aware of their responsibility and demand impartial action,” Marandi said, alleging that FIRs were being registered against students while those responsible for creating disturbances during the programme had been spared.
According to Marandi, the students had been holding the protest peacefully as part of a pre-announced programme when some people allegedly disrupted the event and misbehaved with women students. He claimed that several videos and other evidence available on social media clearly showed who was responsible for the alleged incidents.
He demanded that the magistrate examine the available evidence and take action against those allegedly involved in the disruption before proceeding against the protesting students.
Marandi further alleged that the administration was functioning under political pressure and cited the presence of a CID officer at the SP office as an example of what he described as the government’s interference in administrative functioning.
The Leader of Opposition warned that if an FIR was not registered against the alleged JMM workers, BJP leaders and workers would stage a sit-in outside the magistrate’s office.
Marandi had issued the warning on August 24 and said he would visit the concerned magistrate’s office on August 25 if no action was taken.
BJP leaders Deepak Prakash, C.P. Singh, Yogendra Pratap Singh and Varun Sahu, along with hundreds of party workers, were present during the visit.