In a development that has gone viral this week, students in Bihar protested against alleged irregularities in the Railway Recruitment Board’s Non-Technical Popular Categories examination process. Student bodies called for a ‘Bihar bandh’ this Friday. Supported by all opposition and some ruling parties, the protests reached a climax on January 26th, as reports came in regarding a stationary train that was set on fire in Gaya, Bihar:
Regarding the violence, several FIRs were registered against over 400 unidentified protestors and six teachers—the most popular of whom goes by the name ‘Khan Sir’.
Who is Khan Sir?
Khan Sir, who is from Patna, provides coaching on YouTube for competitive exams. As the Director of GS Research Coaching Centre, Khan is incredibly popular on the platform. With over 14.5 million subscribers, he runs one of the country’s top 100 channels and has drawn in over 1.3 billion views since the launch in 2019.
While his real name and personal life remains private, Khan’s reputation for teaching has turned him into something of an icon for General Studies students. Attracting aspirants looking to join the Railways, NDA, Navy, CDS, Banking, and other fields, he’s drawn a massive following for his simple, easy-to-understand lessons—covering everything from geopolitical history to basic scientific concepts in Hindi.
Why Is an FIR Filed Against Him?
For Khan, whose most popular video explains the Indian incarceration system, getting slammed with an FIR notice is deeply ironic, to say the least. It all started when the educator alleged that the railway ministry had unfairly placed the burden of an additional exam on those who have cleared their first attempt.
This was explained by Khan when he went on NDTV, speaking to journalist Sanket Upadhyay:
“The examinations for graduate and intermediate candidates are being conducted together—in such circumstances, the graduates stand to benefit,” he explained. “The discrepancy in cut-off marks is a reason for dissatisfaction too. The lower cut-off marks of 83 for graduate candidates means they are being favoured for posts that were meant for the intermediate candidates. About 7.5 lakh candidates were supposed to get their results by now, yet only 3.8 lakh have, with most graduate candidates qualifying for multiple posts.”
According to Patrakar Nagar Police Station SHO Manoranjan Bharti, detained protestors Kishan Kumar, Rajan Kumar, Rohit Kumar, and Vikram Kumar claimed that six teachers provoked students to go on the streets and protest if the RRB NTPC exams were not cancelled.
Along with teachers SK Jha, Navin, Amarnath, Gagan Pratap and Gopal Verma, Khan was booked under sections 147, 148, 151, 152, 186, 187, 188, 323, 332, 353, 504, 506 and 120 (B) of IPC (most of which refer to ’unlawful assembly’, ‘rioting’), and other IPC sections involving noncompliance with authorities.
After the protests ramped up, Khan uploaded a new video, urging students to protest peacefully instead of resorting to vandalism:
Khan is yet to make any statement regarding his FIR notice.
(Image Credits: GS Research Coaching Centre, PTI)
