Students clash with police over Jharkhand exam fraud

Thousands of students and job-seekers stormed the Jharkhand state legislature on Monday, hurling rocks and clashing with police who responded with water cannons and barricades as the protest surged into its third week. The demonstrators—many waving placards reading “Cancel the scam exams”—are demanding a federal investigation into alleged cheating rings that rigged civil-service tests across eastern India, the cancellation of this year’s Jharkhand Public Service Commission exams, and a transparent, open-ended hiring process. Police sources said at least 12 officers were injured and five protesters hospitalized after the confrontation outside the Ranchi assembly.

The crisis began on July 25 when students set up camp at Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium, echoing the youth-led “cockroach” protests that paralyzed New Delhi last month. Dozens have since joined a hunger strike; one striker, 40-year-old government-job hopeful Rahul Kranti, was rushed to intensive care on Sunday after his blood pressure dropped. “We will not let the future of Jharkhand’s youth be auctioned off,” Kranti told reporters. He vowed to continue striking until the exams are scrapped and the national Central Bureau of Investigation takes over the probe. After overnight talks, the state government suspended this year’s JPSC civil-service test and accepted the resignation of three commission members, but protesters dismissed the moves as “too little.”

The spark was a viral photo showing a candidate who allegedly passed the July exam despite leaving most of the answer sheet blank. Police have arrested that candidate and 10 others, and the JPSC chair stepped down under pressure. Yet the core demand remains: cancel the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission’s Combined Graduate Level exam, which advertised only 103 posts but saw 2,000 candidates make the cut. The protesters also want every answer sheet published online and an independent inquiry by either retired high-court judges from outside the state or federal agencies—arguing a local police probe cannot be trusted to investigate its own recruitment system.

With schools and colleges across Jharkhand closing for the summer, analysts warn the standoff could spread to neighboring states where similar exams were held. A senior leader of the Jharkhand Chhatra Sangh said the group will escalate to a statewide shutdown on Friday unless the government meets all demands. For thousands of young Indians chasing scarce government jobs, the stakes go beyond marks on a page: the outcome will decide who gets a slice of the state’s promised 200,000 public-sector positions—and whether the system is finally cleaned up.