Aspirants at army hiring camp turn to violence after being denied entry

Candidates at a recruitment camp organised by the Army at Tau Devi Lal Stadium turned violent on Thursday after they were denied entry to the venue in Sector 38.

Candidates at a recruitment camp organised by the Army at Tau Devi Lal Stadium turned violent on Thursday after they were denied entry to the venue in Sector 38.

The police arrested 27 people for damaging one of its vans and injuring some of the personnel at Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Sector 38 on Thursday. The candidates were later released on bail. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

The police arrested 27 people for allegedly pelting stones at a police van and injuring police personnel deployed at the stadium. They were later released on bail.

According to the police, the candidates protested the denial of entry and broke windowpanes of a police van of the Sector 40 police station. They then proceeded to overturn the van. The police said they managed to control the situation in half an hour after a team, comprising four assistant commissioners of police (Sadar, headquarters, Udyog Vihar and DLF), along with other personnel, rushed to the spot.

“Around 10,000 job aspirants gathered at the stadium for a physical examination. They got violent when the army personnel conducting the tests allowed entry to only 2,500 candidates as they had not expected so many to turn up,” a police officer said.

The police have registered a case under Sections 107/151 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Meanwhile, the chaos brought traffic at Rajiv Chowk and arterial roads to a standstill for over an hour. Shopkeepers downed their shutters fearing an escalation of the violence.

“Being the last day for physical tests, the army made the recruitment process free. But, they did not anticipate such a huge turnout. The army personnel denied entry to many. This led to the violence and the candidates started creating ruckus and disrupted traffic on the Gurgaon-Sohna road,” DCP (east) Deepak Saharan said.