The Bihar government late on Monday said that it will withdraw all cases registered against protesters before July 26 evening and release those arrested in a statewide crackdown on demonstrators who took part in last week’s agitation in support of the protest called by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) to press for former education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation.
Event Context
“No adverse legal action – punitive/retaliatory – shall be taken by the Government against any individual participating in the protests before 6 PM on July 26, across the entire state,” an announcement by the state home department said.
“Furthermore, all the persons arrested/detained in connections with the cases registered before the stipulated date, shall be released immediately,” a statement by the state home department’s special secretary Kshtranil Singh said.
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The government’s decision came amid sharp criticism of Bihar police’s continued crackdown against the protesters, and sending hundreds of young protesters to judicial custody.
Police said 694 people were detained across the state in connection with the July 25 strike, jointly organised by the All-India Students’ Association (AISA) and Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA) in solidarity with the CJP’s agitation at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.
Of these, 355 youths were remanded in judicial custody, while 339 minors and others were released after age verification.
Violence was reported from at least 13 districts, with Patna recording the highest number of detentions.
While the police earlier justified the actions as lawful, the victims’ families alleged harassment. They alleged that they were being subjected to deliberate confusion and brutality as their wards were being picked up while going on their daily routines.
In one case, Awadhesh Kumar Sharma, a mechanic from Aurangabad working in New Delhi, said his three sons returning home after coaching classes in Patna were arrested by Kankarbagh police. The eldest, Suresh Kumar, a polytechnic student, was sent to jail reportedly for making a statement against the Prime Minister. His younger brothers, identified as minors, were later released.
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Relatives alleged that detained students were brutally beaten and booked under serious, non-bailable sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, including Section 109. Families described running from one police station to another — Gandhi Maidan, Digha, Rajiv Nagar and Rupaspur — for 30 to 35 hours without receiving clear information about their children’s whereabouts. Many students were eventually shifted to Beur jail late at night.
Over a dozen persons have been arrested in West Bengal for resorting to violence at rallies and demonstrations related to the protest, police said. Many of those arrested have been charged with damaging public property and vandalism.
Fourteen people were arrested earlier and remanded in police custody on Sunday when the police told the court that none of them was a student.
“Two more men, identified as Waqr Azam and Md Javed Akhtar, were arrested from Bright Street and Nadial areas respectively on Monday. All 16 accused have been booked under the new West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Anti-social Activities Act and the West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Act,” a police officer said, requesting anonymity.
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Apart from these 16 suspects, two more people were arrested on Sunday on charges of insulting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 24 and at least three police complaints were lodged against popular actor Sreelekha Mitra for allegedly displaying an objectionable cartoon of the Prime Minister during the agitation at Esplanade.
The Prayagraj police have arrested 10 suspects accused of vandalising vehicles during the student protests at Civil Lines on July 25 and registered three FIRs related to the incidents under sections 191 (2), 324 (4) and 109 (1) of the BNS. The latest complaint was lodged on Monday by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, who alleged that his vehicle was attacked and he received a death threat from unidentified miscreants.
