A video shared by the news agency IANS showed agitators surrounding a yellow school bus in the Gopalganj area. Amidst the turmoil, a man was seen setting a tyre ablaze directly under the bus.
The visuals showed the bus fully occupied by school children in uniform.The attempt, however, was thwarted by the police.
The Bihar Police resorted to using lathi-charges and water cannons to scatter demonstrators who had set up blockades on railways and roads in support of the Bharat Bandh, which was organised to demand community-based reservation. The protesters caused disruptions to train services at the Darbhanga and Buxar railway stations.
In addition, traffic flow was disrupted in several districts, including Patna, Hajipur, Darbhanga, Jehanabad, Purnea, Katihar, Muzaffarpur, and Begusarai. In response to these actions, the police employed baton-charges to disperse the protesters and restore order in the affected areas.
The Patna district administration released a statement confirming that the Patna police filed three FIRs and took nine individuals into custody for allegedly taking matters into their own hands during the protests.
In the district of Jehanabad, protesters and security personnel engaged in confrontations on National Highway-83 near Unta Chowk, resulting in the apprehension of five individuals.
Protesters in various other districts, such as Madhepura, Muzaffarpur, Saran, Begusarai, Hajipur, Purnea, and Katihar, made attempts to obstruct traffic and set tyres ablaze. However, security forces swiftly intervened and dispersed the crowds.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other members of the INDIA bloc expressed their backing for the bandh.
The Bharat Bandh was called by 21 organisations across the country in response to the Supreme Court’s August 1 ruling allowing states to sub-classify Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for granting quotas within these groups. The apex court’s majority verdict held that such sub-classifications are permissible to benefit more underprivileged castes within these categories.