Visuals showed the yellow bus surrounded by the mob armed with sticks.
Prompt action by police and bystanders may have saved the lives of children on a school bus in Bihar's Gopalganj today. The bus was caught amid protests during a Bharat Bandh called for by some groups against a recent Supreme Court order on 'quota within quota' for SCs, STs, and OBCs.
Initial reports said the mob had tried to set the bus, which contained several children, on fire.
Visuals on social media showed the bus surrounded by a large group of men, some of whom were armed with sticks and seemed to be poking at something burning and caught under the bus' rear tire. Other burning tires were seen scattered around the road the bus was on.
However, Gopalganj Police have clarified that the group, in fact, was trying to remove the burning tire from underneath the bus, so it could pass safely through.
An extended video shared on X shows a large number of protesters, many armed with lathis and hockey sticks, gathered around the bus and trying to help remove the burning tire.
After a few efforts the tire is removed and the bus drives safely through the crowd of protesters.
Gopalganj Superintendent of Police Swarn Prabhat had earlier said a high alert had been issued, and a large police force deployed at various locations in the town, over the Bharat Bandh call.
He mentioned that the police have identified a few individuals who were creating trouble through drone cameras. "I have instructed the police station to file FIRs against the identified troublemakers and send those who attempted to set the bus on fire to jail," he said.
Even though the town reported some incidents of violence, the Bharat Bandh call evoked a mixed response in Gopalganj. While some vehicles were seen on the road, some protesters caused disruptions along National Highway 27 and the railway tracks.
The Bharat Bandh was called by some Dalit organisations who took an opposing view to a recent Supreme Court judgment by a seven-judge bench that, according to them, undermines the earlier ruling of a nine-judge bench in the landmark Indira Sawhney case, which established the framework for reservations in India.