The Pune MPSC protest escalated on its eighth day after police registered cases against 15 demonstrators, prompting Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) MLA Rohit Pawar to challenge the action and demand that the cases against students be withdrawn.
The protest, being held near the S. M. Joshi Bridge in Pune since October 2, seeks greater transparency in competitive examinations and action against officials accused by students of corruption. Police have booked the protesters under provisions related to allegedly provocative statements, unlawful assembly and causing obstruction to traffic, according to a report by Lokmat – Pune.
Following the registration of the first information report, Pawar reached Faraskhana police station and questioned the police action. He said that students from poor families, farmers’ households and working-class communities represented Maharashtra’s future. Pawar also criticised what he described as an attempt to portray the protesters as terrorists or spies.
Pawar said he had participated in the protest as an elected representative and asked the authorities to register cases against him instead of the students. He also demanded that the cases against the demonstrators be withdrawn immediately. His comments came after the police action against the protesters and added a political dimension to the dispute over the continuing demonstration.
The students have alleged that the government is attempting to suppress the protest through the misuse of police force. They have also alleged several errors in the FIR, including the naming of people who were not present at the protest site. According to the report, the protesters further alleged that women demonstrators were identified as men and male demonstrators as women in the police record.
The central demand of the protesters is that the Maharashtra Public Service Commission chairman accept moral responsibility for alleged question-paper leaks and irregularities and resign. The report does not provide the police’s detailed response to the allegations concerning errors in the FIR or the students’ claims about the use of force.
The dispute highlights the administrative consequences of student protests over recruitment examinations, where the handling of police complaints can become part of the wider trust deficit between candidates and public institutions. In this case, the protest began with demands concerning examination transparency and alleged official misconduct, but the filing of criminal cases has shifted attention towards the treatment of demonstrators and the use of public space.
The students have warned that Maharashtra could witness a protest more intense than the movement in Delhi if the government does not take what they consider an appropriate decision. The immediate next steps are expected to involve the police case against the 15 protesters, the students’ demands concerning the MPSC leadership and the government’s response to the allegations raised by both sides.
