Authorities have suspended a policeman for firing rounds in the air from an assault rifle to disperse student protesters in Bihar's Patna over the weekend, the latest flashpoint in a wave of youth protests that forced the union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign.
Police have been accused of using excessive force at the protests, including beating students with canes and firing tear gas to push back tens of thousands marching to parliament in the capital New Delhi on July 20th.In videos uploaded to social media by students and others, and confirmed by police, a policeman in riot gear can be seen running towards a group of protesters in the eastern city of Siwan in Bihar on July 25, pointing an AK-47 at them and firing at least three shots in the air.
Siwan, Bihar: SIT team member Abhishek Patel, who fired shots from an AK-47 in Siwan, has been suspended
— IANS (@ians_india) July 27, 2026
(Visuals from the spot, July 25) pic.twitter.com/1pTl9RyLLe
Senior Bihar police official Nilesh Kumar said no one was wounded and that a constable, part of an intelligence unit "which deals with dreaded, hard-core criminals," had been issued the assault rifle. The protests were triggered by the leakage of question papers for a national medical college entrance exam in May, taken by more the 2 million students, and forcing a re-test.
