Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke spoke to Jharkhand student leader Devendra Nath Mahto, who has been on a hunger strike for the past nine days amid protests in Ranchi, over a video call on Monday night. Dipke affirmed CJP’s support for Mahto and condemned the alleged police brutality at a Ranchi protest march.
Key Statements
For many in the crowd, the barricades themselves had become part of the message they felt the government was sending them.
At least 100 youth lathicharged, claims protesters
Suddenly, the police launched a lathi charge. “We were sitting outside the legislative assembly, waiting for the government (officials) to come and provide a response, but there was no sign of the government. Another protester, Vikram Kumar, criticised the Hemant Soren-led government for the police action. We were protesting peacefully. We did not even hurl any abuses. This is not good. A JPSC and JSSC aspirant, Mr. Yadav had appeared for the State-level job recruitment examinations four times. For Sonali Agrawal, a JPSC-CGL aspirant, the march was about the years students were losing while waiting for a recruitment system they could trust. “As students, we are constantly dealing with exam cancellations and paper leaks. “These exams are a lifeline for this State’s youth and this is the reason why the issue is still alive. The protesters came demanding the cancellation of the JSSC-CGL examination, accountability for the alleged examination irregularities and an CBI investigation into them. The police action deepened the anger among the aspirants. “They should directly hit us with a gun. Binod, a protester, pointed to the barbed wire around the barricades. “We see these barbed wires on the border with Pakistan. The anger intensified after the first round of lathi charge. “We came to wish the Chief Minister on his birthday but they beat us black and blue. I can’t even stand up.”
Pankaj Yadav, 28, lay on the road, 1 km away from the Jharkhand Assembly, with a swollen foot, trying to explain to those around him where the police baton had struck him. On Monday (August 10, 2026), he joined thousands of other aspirants marching towards the Assembly, carrying with them a frustration that had long outgrown any single examination. Since the formation of Jharkhand, this has been a consistent issue for 26 years,” she said. The march called by the JPSC-JSSC Reform Manch and the JLKM began at the old Vidhan Sabha around 10.30 a.m. Around 8.30 p.m., YouTuber Parth Kumar told The Hindu that his camera had been destroyed by the police personnel near the Vidhan Sabha complex. The government is already sucking our youth years,” said 32-year-old Shubam Kumar, an aspirant. Anand Sagar, 26, suffered an arm injury in the police action.
Condemning the alleged use of force, the CJP founder further said, “Be it Jantar Mantar or Jharkhand, such police brutality against students is cruel and inhuman. police said that a section of demonstrators turned violent and pelted stones at security forces While several protesters claimed they were injured in police action. However, the police arrived, and without any warning or prior exchange of words, they immediately started a lathi charge,” Shivam, an injured protester, told news agency ANI. He said, “Hemant Soren ji, you should not have done this. His knees and leg were hurting, he said, and there was pain near his stomach too. Each time, he said, the process had been marred by irregularities. “They forced me to delete the footage of lathi charge and then pushed me to the ground with my camera and it broke,” he said. Does the government think that we are terrorists in our own country?” he said. “This dictatorial government is beating us students, but we will give an answer for this treatment through our votes,” Mr. Sagar said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Jharkhand unit president Aditya Sahu announced the call for a ‘statewide band’ on Tuesday.
Cops defend use of ‘mild, minimum force’
As the protest continued, dialogue between a student delegation and a state government panel also took place. The DC noted that students had launched an indefinite protest on July 24 without permission. Following this, the protest site was moved to the Jaipal Singh Stadium on July 28, he added.
During a press conference, Bhajantri said police exercised restraint throughout the protest march and “used mild force” only after a jawan’s life was allegedly at risk. Given the upcoming Durand Cup and Tribal festival, Bhajantri said a request was made to relocate the protesters. Bhajantri said that throughout the protests, police teams “strove to avoid using force.”
