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New Delhi: Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke on Tuesday, August 11, condemned the alleged police lathi-charge on student protesters in Jharkhand and expressed solidarity with student leader Devendra Nath Mahto, who is undergoing treatment in hospital following the incident.

According to a statement issued by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), Dipke spoke to Mahto over a video call while the student leader was hospitalised. The outfit claimed Mahto had been on a nine-day hunger strike before the police action and his condition deteriorated following the alleged lathi-charge.

The CJP said Mahto was placed on oxygen support after developing severe chest pain and sustaining multiple injuries during the police action. It alleged that the police crackdown targeted students participating in a peaceful protest.

During the video call, Mahto recounted the police action and the circumstances leading to his hospitalisation, the CJP statement said.

“Whether it is Jantar Mantar in New Delhi or the streets of Jharkhand, such severe police brutality against peaceful student demonstrators is cruel, inhuman, and entirely unacceptable,” Dipke said.

“Devendra Bhai is a true hero who is putting his life on the line for the student community. CJP stands firmly with him and his righteous struggle. We salute his extraordinary courage, resilience and strength,” he said.

The CJP demanded an immediate independent probe into the alleged police action and sought accountability of officials who ordered the lathi-charge.

The outfit also said student and youth movements could not be silenced through what it termed state-sponsored intimidation or physical force.

Several agitators, including women, and four policemen were injured during a clash near the Jharkhand Assembly on Monday, as police used water cannons, tear gas and lathi-charged job aspirants protesting against alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations.

The clash took place after the protesters breached multiple barricades near the Vidhan Sabha and reached Gate No 1, where they staged a sit-in and refused to leave until their demands were addressed, even as police resorted to a fresh round of lathi-charge.

The student protesters have been demanding comprehensive reforms in the functioning of the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) and Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC), and cancellation of several recruitment examinations, and an independent probe either by the CBI or a panel of retired high court judges from outside the state into the alleged irregularities.

They have also claimed that the government had agreed to cancel only three of the 13 examinations they want scrapped.