The Patna district administration on Sunday recommended slapping charges of murder on those who tried to disrupt the recently-conducted Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) examination here, in which an on-duty official died of a heart attack.
This recommendation was made in the report submitted by the District Magistrate to the BPSC, a copy of which was made available to the media.
The incident took place at the Bapu Exam Complex in Kumharar area of Patna, one of the more than 900 centers for the Joint (Preliminary) Competitive Examination. Around 5 lakh candidates appeared in the exam held to recruit people for Group A and B posts.
An inquiry report by a Deputy Collector-ranked official said that “anti-social elements posing as examinees… have become hell-bent on creating such disturbances that the examination can be cancelled”.
The report emphasized the need to “look at the role of many coaching institutes” in the entire episode.
On the date of the exam, more than 5000 candidates stood in the Bapu exam area, a group of candidates came out of the exam hall alleging that the question papers were out.
A huge crowd had gathered outside the center as well and the situation was brought under control with police intervention. Patna DM Chandrashekhar Singh also reached the spot and a video clip of him slapping an unruly protester went viral on social media.
During the commotion, an officer named Ram Iqbal Singh suffered a heart attack. According to the report of the district administration, the officer died when the traffic near the center was blocked because he could not be taken to the hospital on time.
“Therefore, strict disciplinary and legal action should be taken against the candidates and other anti-social elements (involved in the demonstration) and it is recommended that they be slapped with charges of murder,” the report added.
The DM of Patna said, “The district administration is analyzing the CCTV footage of the Bapu exam Parisar exam center. Two teams have been formed under the supervision of Patna SSP to find out 10-12 anti-social elements who are creating a ruckus there. He said that while protesting inside the campus, those elements took away the question papers from the examinees of other exam halls and provided the question papers to outsiders.
“They also held the center’s examination superintendent hostage. They forced him to announce the cancellation of the exam, which he did not do,” Singh said.
If they become examinees, the district administration requests the commission to debar them from appearing in the BPSC examination, the DM said, adding that they will be sent to jail.
The DM said that the District Police Office has so far registered two FIRs in this regard. In the same center, a total of 5,671 candidates completed the documents without any hassle, he said.
“On the pretext of late distribution of question papers, some examinees seem to be planning to disrupt the examination by spreading rumors in a conspiracy to cancel the examination.
“Candidates were not supposed to take the booklet, question paper and OMR sheet out of the examination center before the end of the examination,” the DM said.
He said that the role of some coaching institutes should also be investigated in this regard.
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