Burning Trains To Stone-Pelting — Telling Images From Agnipath Protests

The protests against the central government’s short-term contractual recruitment scheme have rocked the nation as angry protestors set ablaze trains and railway stations vandalised in many states, including Bihar, UP, and Telangana (Photo: PTI).

The protests erupted when the central government introduced the contract-based recruitment scheme for Defence services named Agnipath (Photo: PTI).

The aspirants came to the streets against the scheme as the scheme allows 17-23 year olds to join Defence services for four years (Photo: PTI).

Earlier the age limit was 21 years, but after the protests began, it was extended to 23 years (Photo: PTI).

However, it was not enough to pacify the protestors, so the protests continued on Friday with more public property vandalised (Photo: PTI).

As the railway stations remain to be the prime locations for protests, so far a total of 200 train services have been affected. 35 train services stand cancelled, while 13 have been short terminated throughout the country (Photo: PTI).

The protests, which began in Bihar, have now spread to West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. As a precautionary measure to maintain the law and order situation in Haryana’s Gurugram district, IPC section 144 has been imposed in the area (Photo: PTI).

On Friday, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation also shut the gates of several metro stations as a precautionary step. The gates have, however, been opened now. The All India Students’ Association (AISA) has called for a Bihar bandh on Saturday against the Agnipath scheme (Photo: PTI).