Amid ongoing protests over alleged irregularities in JPSC-JSSC examinations, senior journalist Aman Chopra has alleged that Jharkhand Police briefly detained and questioned him before registering an FIR related to his coverage of the agitation.
In a video shared on X, Chopra claimed that several other journalists reporting on the protests and the march towards the Jharkhand Assembly were also detained and questioned by police.
“Jharkhand Police has been selectively targeting journalists. They came to me while I was eating at the hotel. They detained me and interrogated me for nearly two hours before giving me the FIR copy,” Chopra alleged.
He accused the Hemant Soren government of trying to prevent journalists from covering developments linked to the student protests.
“The Jharkhand government is worried that the truth will be exposed. That is why it is stopping journalists from doing their work. The FIR is the price we have to pay for doing our job,” he said.
Chopra also compared the situation in Ranchi with earlier student protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, claiming journalists were able to report freely during the Cockroach Janta Party-led agitation.
BJP SLAMS SOREN GOVERNMENT
The BJP used Chopra’s allegations to target the Jharkhand government, accusing it of “hounding journalists” as protests over recruitment examinations intensified.
“What exactly does Hemant Soren’s government want to know from a journalist covering the protests? And why is the government so nervous about journalists doing their job?” BJP leader Amit Malviya said.
He alleged that instead of concentrating on maintaining law and order during the protests, police were targeting journalists covering the agitation.
The allegations surfaced as tensions between protesters and police intensified during a march by JPSC-JSSC aspirants towards the Jharkhand Assembly.
POLICE LATHICHARGE AS PROTESTERS MARCH TO ASSEMBLY
Police resorted to a lathicharge after protesting aspirants moved towards the Assembly, with some demonstrators reportedly suffering injuries.
The protesters had started their march from the Old Assembly towards the New Assembly as part of their ongoing agitation against alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations.
Several police barricades were breached during the march, prompting security personnel to use water cannons to stop the demonstrators.
Student leader Devendra Nath Mahto, who has been on a hunger strike for nine days, also joined the march after reaching the site in an ambulance. He was later carried on a stretcher during the protest.
CGL REMAINS KEY STICKING POINT
The confrontation followed unsuccessful talks between the state government and student groups to completely resolve the dispute.
Jharkhand Minister Deepika Pandey Singh said the government had accepted almost all demands that were within its authority and was also prepared to allow investigations into the alleged irregularities under judicial supervision.
However, cancellation of the JSSC-CGL examination continues to be a major point of disagreement.
The government has maintained that it cannot cancel the examination on its own as the issue is connected to judicial directives.
The protesting aspirants, meanwhile, have continued demanding stronger action over alleged irregularities in JPSC and JSSC examinations, keeping the agitation going despite multiple rounds of discussions with the state government.
