Video: Bihar Candidates Appearing For SSC Exam In Siliguri Assaulted, Forced To Do Sit-Ups; Political Tensions Erupts

A disturbing video has surfaced online showing two youths from Bihar being harassed in Bengal while attempting to take the physical exam for a Staff Selection Commission (SSC) recruitment.

The video is going viral on social media and has set off a political storm with the Mamata Banerjee government coming under attack from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Minister Giriraj Singh as well as Union Minister Chirag Paswan as they have demanded action.

The video, whose authenticity has not been independently verified by FPJ, is reportedly from Siliguri. The two men were made to apologise and do sit-ups and one of them was thrown against a wall by unidentified miscreants claiming to be police. The attackers claimed they had forged their domicile certificates. A domicile certificate proves that a person has been a resident of a state for a certain period.

In the video, the two youths can be seen sleeping when the miscreants barge into the room and ask him if he can speak and understand Bengali. When the youth replies in the negative,the intruders start interrogating them in broken Hindi. The youth is heard saying, "We have come from Bihar to appear for physicals for a government exam. We are not from Bengal, but a Siliguri center was allotted to us."

Watch the video here:

One of the miscreants then asks, "Why did you apply for Bengal when you are not from this state?" The person shooting the video then identifies the group as being from the police, saying: "We are from the police. Here's my ID." However, no ID is seen in the video, nor does the youth appear to have seen any official police ID.

The visibly scared youth in fear of their safety requests to call his uncle, who lives nearby, but a miscreant snatches his phone. "We're asking politely; show us your documents," the miscreant demands, before physically assaulting one of the youths.

At this point, a third youth appears in the video, who appears to have accompanied the miscreants. Going by the conversation heard in the video, the third youth seems to be a Bengali and presumably had been living with the other two Bihari youths.

The person shooting the incident tells the third youth in Bengali, "You know which are their belongings. Show us their bags." The victims, desperate and frightened, plead, "Kill us if you want to… You just want to tear our certificates… Please let us go."

The leader of the miscreants then accuses them of forging documents and forces the two Bihari youths to hold their ears and do sit-ups. He says, "Don't act smart. What is your state of domicile? Why did you forge your documents?"

The video ends with youths pleading with the attackers and promising they would return home.

Ministers Attack Mamata Banerjee

Union Minister and senior BJP leader Giriraj Singh shared the video of the incident on his social media platform, X, which has sparked a political debate. In his post, he questioned why the youths were assaulted and asked, “Are these children not part of India?”

“Red carpet for Rohingya Muslims in Bengal and Bihar kid beaten up for taking exam? Are these children not part of India? Has Mamata government taken the contract of only saving rapists?,” the Union Minister wrote in Hindi while sharing the video.

Posting the video, Mr Chirag Paswan, who is the minister for Food Processing Industries and a part of the ruling NDA, asked whether it was a crime to appear for an exam in West Bengal.

"The news of the brutal assault on Bihari students in West Bengal is very unfortunate and condemnable. The chief minister of that state has once again insulted Biharis, which cannot be tolerated at all. I want to ask Mamata Banerjee ji, is it a crime to take an exam in West Bengal? Will the opposition party leaders still remain silent?" Mr Paswan posted in Hindi on X.

"I want to ask the Leader of Opposition of Bihar, on what basis will you support the Trinamool Congress now? I request the Honorable Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar ji to get the matter thoroughly investigated and take legal action against the culprits," he added.

Weighing in on the incident, Bengal BJP leader and former MP Arjun Singh also called for immediate police action against the miscreants. He said: "Bengali youths can go to Bihar and UP for such recruitments. What is the harm in it? Many youths from West Bengal took part in the teachers' recruitment in Bihar recently. Everyone is free in India to go to any part of India for employment and business. This kind of cheap mentality is bad for the sovereignty of our country."

Siliguri Police Arrest Assailants

The Siliguri police posted on X that the two men who assaulted and abused the youths have been identified.

“A video was in circulation on social media where two persons claiming them as IB officers were seen assaulting and abusing two other persons in Siliguri. Those two persons have been identified, their claim of being the IB officers is fake and they have been arrested,” the police stated in their post.

What Is The Domicile Rule For SSC-GD Exam?

The domicile rule for the SSC-GD Exam requires candidates to be Indian citizens and to submit a domicile certificate or Permanent Residential Certificate (PRC) from their respective state or union territory (UT) for recruitment. The appropriate authority must issue this certificate and is necessary during document verification; otherwise, the candidate’s application will be canceled. Domicile status is also tied to reservation benefits, but if a candidate chooses to apply from a different state, they may forfeit these benefits. Candidates who declare migration to another state will be considered as unreserved in their new domicile, regardless of any caste certificate they may hold.