Odisha: ABVP activists ransack BSE office, 21 arrested

The ABVP activists were staging a demonstration in front of the BSE office demanding action against people responsible for leak of matriculation question papers on WhatsApp.
Odisha: ABVP activists ransack BSE office, 21 arrested

CUTTACK: Protesting alleged circulation of question papers of the ongoing High School Certificate (HSC) Examination on social media, activists of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) barged into the office of Board of Secondary Education (BSE) here on Tuesday before police baton-charged them out of the campus.

Later, as many as 21 were arrested by the police. The ABVP activists were staging a demonstration in front of the BSE office demanding action against people responsible for leak of matriculation question papers on WhatsApp. Soon they clashed with the security staff and BSE officials when they tried to stop the agitators from entering the building to submit a memorandum.

More than 30 ABVP activists then damaged the main gate of BSE building and ransacked the office property. On being informed, Cuttack Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Akhileswar Singh and all ACPs rushed to the spot along with additional police force to bring the situationunder control.“Efforts of the police to pacify the agitators proved futile as the ABVP activists went on abusing and clashing with us,” said Singh.When the irate ABVP activists manhandled and assaulted ASI PK Satpathy of Mangalabag police station, police were forced to resort to mild lathicharge to disperse the agitators from BSE headquarters, Singh said.

After the incident, BSE president Jahan Ara Begum filed an FIR against ABVP activists at Mangalabag police station. The BSE authority alleged that the ABVP activists who had barged into the office on the plea of submitting memorandum had misbehaved, manhandled and assaulted Board officials, including her.

Acting on the FIR, police registered a case and arrested 21 ABVP activists, DCP Singh added. They were produced before the Sub-divisional Judicial Magistrate who rejected their bail pleas and sent them to Choudwar jail, said Additional Public Prosecutor Biswajit Baral.

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