Bharat Bandh: Mob burns tyres, stops school bus with several children aboard in Bihar’s Gopalganj — viral video

In a shocking incident, a group of demonstrators reportedly tried to set ablaze a school bus in Bihar's Gopalganj during a protest on Wednesday. The incident happened during the Bharat Bandh which was called by some groups against a Supreme Court order on reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs). A video of the incident went viral on social media.

In the viral video, a mob could be seen surrounding a yellow school bus with several children aboard. A burning tyre was spotted under the bus. The school bus had to drive over the torched tyres as protesters had burnt tyres in the middle of the road.

The 37-second video showed a man, donning a black shirt, making way for the school bus which waded through the crowd carrying sticks.

NDTV reported that a timely police intervention helped prevent the attack on the bus. The Gopalganj police and district administration thwarted the attempt to set the bus afire, as per the report.

A purported video also showed the mob surrounding an ambulance. According to India Today, videos from the spot also showed some protesters misbehaving with two people on a two-wheeler.

As per the report, Gopalganj Superintendent of Police Swarn Prabhat ordered the arrest of those involved in vandalism and misbehaviour.

A nationwide strike or ‘Bharat Bandh’ was called in response to a recent Supreme Court ruling on SC/ST reservations. The Reservation Bachao Sangharsh Samiti announced the Bharat Bandh as a mark of protest against the SC's ruling on SC/ST reservations.

In a landmark ruling on August 1, the Supreme Court ruled that states have the power to sub-classify SCs and STs and said that the authority concerned, while deciding if the class is adequately represented, must calculate adequacy based on effective and not quantitative representation.

The Supreme Court ruled by a majority judgement of 6:1, that sub-classification within the SCs and STs reservation is permissible. As many as six separate opinions were delivered in the case.