In Nawada, groups of young men burnt tyres at a public crossing and raised slogans demanding the rollback of the tour of duty scheme.
Patna: For the second day in a row, protests against Agnipath, a radical recruitment scheme for the armed forces, became violent as Army aspirants stopped train and road traffic in several parts of Bihar. To disperse protestors from the Arrah railway station, police had to use tear gas shells.
Students flung stones at police officers in Jehanabad, wounding many individuals, including cops who chased them away from the railway tracks where they had camped to impede rail operations. The police and protesting students pelted stones at one other in dramatic pictures from the railway station. To frighten the protestors away, the cops pointed their rifles at them.
In Nawada, a group of young men set fire to tyres at a public crossing and chanted slogans calling for the tour of duty plan to be repealed. They also burned tyres on the railway tracks at Nawada station and blocked the tracks. Images from the scene show a large throng destroying railway property and criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Many people can be seen doing pushups on the train rails while cops use a handheld public address system to plead for calm.
The tour of duty system, Agnipath, advocates the contractual enlistment of jawans for a four-year period, followed by compulsory retirement for the majority of them without gratuity or pension benefits.
When police tried to force them away to prevent train traffic disturbance in Saharsa and Arrah, students gathered to the railway station and threw stones at them.
In Arrah, police had to use tear gas to disperse the agitators.
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