Uttarakhand: Police arrest 13 protesters who pelted stones at police vehicle

Dehradun: Thirteen people were arrested after unemployed youth, protesting at the main Rajpur road of Dehradun, demanding a CBI inquiry into recruitment irregularities, pelted stones at the Police force and damaged their vehicles. A heavy Police force was deployed at the spot along with the police administration.
Police arrested 13 protesters, including union president Bobby Panwar, in the incident of stone pelting in the demonstration of the unemployed union on Thursday. 15 policemen were injured in stone pelting during this incident.
"Students were demanding a robust exam system. Already there is lack of jobs due to the BJP govt, then the paper gets leaked & cancelled. When students were protesting they were lathi-charged which is unfortunate. CM must speak with youngsters," congress Leader Harish Rawat said hitting out at the Government.
Dehradun DIG while taking note of the matter said that an investigation is underway into the matter.
He also said that some "outside elements" entered the protest to vitiate the atmosphere.
"Stone pelting was done & police vehicles were damaged while personnel were injured," informed Directorate Inspector General of Police, Dehradun.
However, police personnel also detained several protestors during the demonstration.
Uttarakhand CM PS Dhami directed the Chief Secretary for a detailed magisterial inquiry into the law and order situation and the entire sequence of lathi charge. After checking all the facts and circumstances, a detailed inquiry report will be made available to the government.
"The Chief Minister has directed the Chief Secretary for a detailed magisterial inquiry into the law and order situation and the entire sequence of lathi charge," the CM office said.
"After checking all the facts and circumstances, the inquiry officer will make the detailed inquiry report available to the government," it added.
Dehradun's DM Sonika told ANI that Section 144 had been imposed in the Dehradun district in view of yesterday's incident.
The government is facing sharp criticism after several exams were cancelled due to the leakage of the examination papers.
The recent UKPSC paper leak which resulted in the Patwari Lekhpal exam being cancelled for around 1.4 lakh candidates.
Uttarakhand recently faced a major paper leak case in December.
The case pertains to a written exam conducted by the UKSSSC in December 2021.
It was one of the major examinations conducted by the commission for 854 posts across 13 departments.
However, there were widespread allegations of irregularities in the conduct of the test. Following these allegations, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami called for a probe and strict action against those guilty.
Following this, the secretary of the commission was removed from the post. A Special Task Force (STF) was also constituted to investigate the alleged irregularities.
After the Uttarakhand State Subordinate Service Selection Commission was caught up in a paper leak case, the government asked the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission to conduct recruitment exams.
However, UKPSC officials were also arrested for their alleged involvement in the UKPSC Paper leak for the Patwari Lekhpal exam, which was conducted on January 8, 2023. As of now, a total of four people have been arrested in the case.
A case has been registered against nine people at Haridwar's Kankhal police station on Friday after an investigation by Police's Special Investigating Team (SIT) for the irregularities in AE/JE exam under Uttarakhand Public Services Examination (UKPSE), as informed by Uttarakhand CMO.
However, the CM on Thursday said that he approved an ordinance to bring the country's strictest "anti-cheating law".
"As a promise to the youth, our government has decided to bring the strictest anti-cheating law of the country. I have approved the Ordinance in this regard and sent for further action," he wrote in a tweet in Hindi. (ANI)