ABVP tries to protest outside UPPSC, woman among 35 arrested

Around 35 AVBP activists, including a woman, were arrested on Saturday for trying to stage demonstration at the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission headquarters here over the issue of leakage of question papers of an examination held recently.

“We have arrested altogether 35 persons, including a woman, for trying to stage an unauthorised demonstration outside the UPPSC building falling under Civil Lines police station. They have been kept in custody at a place on the outskirts of the city,” Deputy Superintendent of Police Veerendra Kumar said.

He said the ABVP activists had tried to jump over the barricades put up close to the UPPSC building.

“Police personnel deployed at the spot chased them away and many of the agitators chose not to return. However, some of them turned out to be more obstinate and made repeated attempts to jump over the barricades. They were arrested and whisked away,” he said.

The incident involving the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the students’ wing of the BJP, comes a day after a similar demonstration was held near the UPPSC building by the party’s youth wing the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha.

Moreover, on Friday a group of former students of the Allahabad University had also met Union Minister Rajnath Singh at Lucknow and submitted a memorandum demanding a CBI inquiry into leakage of question papers for PCS (Preliminary) examinations held last month.

Following the leakage, the UPPSC cancelled the exams for the first paper and announced a fresh date for the same though many of the aspirants have expressed dissatisfaction over the step and sought cancellation of the second paper as well - a demand which has been seconded by the local unit of the BJP as well as its affiliates.

Besides a CBI inquiry, another demand being vociferously raised ever since the question papers were leaked and shared via Whatsapp on March 29 is the removal of Anil Yadav, the UPPSC Chairman, whose tenure has been marred by allegations of irregularities in various examinations conducted by the Commission.