‘Agnipath’ protests: Trains set on fire, stations vandalised
Mob set trains on fire in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar this morning as the protests over the new military recruitment policy, Agnipath, entered the third consecutive day today. The government has defended the scheme, calling it “transformative”.
Trains were set afire, public and police vehicles attacked in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for the third consecutive day today amid protests against the new recruitment scheme that has set off a firestorm.
In Uttar Pradesh, a mob entered a railway station in Ballia this morning and set a train on fire, and also damaged railway station property before the police used force to disperse them.
Another group of protesters carrying sticks argued with the police on the streets outside the railway station in the eastern UP district. Videos of the protest show young men with lathis breaking shops and benches at the railway station. “The police managed to stop the mob from large-scale damage. We will act against the men,” Ballia District Magistrate Saumya Agarwal told reporters.
Two coaches of the Jammu Tawi Express train were set on fire at Mohiuddinagar station in Bihar, officials told NDTV, adding no one was hurt in the incident.