During a protest against the Centre’s Agnipath recruitment plan, a mob vandalized a train at the Ballia railway station in Uttar Pradesh on Friday morning.
To disperse the mob, police officers have been stationed at the station.
“Since the morning, forces have been stationed at the station. A few hooligans arrived, but were stopped from causing too much damage; they attempted stone-pelting. Ballia DM Saumya Agarwal assured media that action was being taken.
Angry protests erupted throughout seven Indian states on Thursday, from Uttarakhand in the north to Bihar in the east and Madhya Pradesh in the center. A total of 180 persons were hurt. Even as the government sought to reassure agitators, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faced criticism from various Opposition parties and its ally Janata Dal (United), which rules Bihar, the location of the most violent protests, in a coalition.
In Bihar, train bogies were set ablaze in three districts, two BJP legislators, Aruna Devi and CN Gupta, were assaulted in separate instances, and a BJP office in Madhubani was set on fire.
Protesters set fire to tyres to obstruct traffic, a train station in Chhapra was vandalized, and passenger trains were blocked in a number of locations, causing the railways to cancel 30 passenger trains and delay another 40 for many hours. To disperse protests, police used lathicharge and tear gas shells in several locations.
