Patna, Aug 12 : The Patna Police on Monday resorted to a lathi-charge on a group of protesting students in the Punaichak locality of the state capital.

The students from Patna University were marching towards the office of the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) to demand the adoption of the 'one candidate, one result' policy for the third phase of the BPSC teacher recruitment examination (BPSC TRE 3). The students are demanding that the result of one candidate who may have passed all the exams for four categories of teacher's post -- primary, middle, secondary and higher secondary -- should not be declared as otherwise three posts will fall vacant, thereby blocking the chances for other candidates.

As the students reached Punaichak, they were intercepted by police, who instructed them to turn back. When the students refused to comply, the police initiated a lathi-charge, resulting in injuries to more than a dozen students, including their leader, Dilip Kumar.

The police took Kumar into custody to halt the demonstration. The students were prevented from reaching the BPSC office, and the police chased them away.

'In the first and second phases of the BPSC teacher recruitment, multiple results were released, resulting in many seats remaining vacant. The protesting students aim to bring this issue to the attention of the BPSC chairman before the announcement of the third phase results. They were demanding the implementation of a "one candidate, one result" policy to prevent the same issue from occurring again,' Kumar said.

He expressed disappointment over the police action, stating, 'The Patna police have suppressed our protest through lathi charge. The rights of differently-abled candidates are being snatched away. We came today to protest peacefully, against this and wanted to meet the chairman of the commission, but this could not happen. Many of our colleagues have been injured in this lathi charge.'

The third phase of the teacher recruitment examination by BPSC has significant importance, with the results expected by the end of August.

According to official sources, the answer key for the examination will be released after Independence Day.

This third phase of the BPSC teacher recruitment examination was held for 87,774 posts, with nearly four lakh candidates participating over four days. The breakdown of available positions includes 28,026 posts for primary teachers, 19,645 for middle school teachers, 16,970 for secondary teachers, and 22,373 for higher secondary teachers.

/IANS