The Uttarakhand government has put in place the country’s “strictest anti-copying law”, making provisions for 10 years in jail and a fine of Rs 10 crore, but statewide protests against frequent paper leaks continued on Saturday with unemployed youths sticking to their demand for a CBI probe.

Chief minister and BJP leader Pushkar Singh Dhami had earlier on Saturday said after a meeting with some of the protesting youths that they had withdrawn their agitation. However, over 200 protesters who were still camping at Shaheed Sthal in state capital Dehradun contested the claim and said they would not budge until their demands were accepted.

The demands include a CBI probe under the supervision of a high court judge into the paper leaks that have blighted competitive exams and the release of 13 leaders of the protesters whom police had arrested on Thursday allegedly to suppress their collective voice.

“We held a discussion with the members of the organisation of unemployed youths in a positive atmosphere. We have ordered a probe into the patwari (revenue sub-inspector) examination paper leak by the special task force under the supervision of the high court. The Uttarakhand Competitive Examination (Measure for Prevention for Unfair Means in Recruitment) Ordinance, 2023, is also in force now as the governor, Lt Gen. Gurmeet Singh, has cleared it,” Dhami said.

The chief minister said candidates for the exam to recruit patwaris would be allowed to travel free in state buses to their exam centres on Sunday.

According to the ordinance cleared by the governor, those found involved in leaking papers will face a maximum punishment of 10 years in jail and a fine of Rs 10 crore. Those found involved in copying in job exams would be handed a three-year jail term and a fine of Rs 5 lakh.

However, Santosh Kumar, a protester said: “We are still on a satyagraha because the government has refused to hand over the half-a-dozen paper leak cases to the CBI for reasons best known to it. We also want the government to release Bobby Panwar, the president of the Uttarakhand Berojgar Sangh, and 12 other leaders who were arrested from Gandhi Park on Thursday after a brutal lathi-charge on us.”

Bobby has been critical of the Dhami government and demanded the resignation of the chief minister. He had tweeted on January 19: “The gang is very big and it is trying to save the (paper leak) mafia. Big officers and politicians will be exposed if the CBI inquiry is done.”

The youths have sat on a dharna at Shaheed Sthal after they were forcibly removed from Gandhi Park on Thursday. Over one lakh youths had gathered at Dehradun on Thursday after the police had allegedly lathi-charged a group of women protesters at Gandhi Park.

Daleep Singh, senior superintendent of police, said: “The government is already in talks with the protesters, whom we have appealed to be peaceful. The release of the arrested protesters is a legal matter and we cannot do anything about it.”