Amid the ongoing protests over the new military recruitment policy, Agnipath, in Telangana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, one person has died and over 15 have been injured in Telangana’s Secunderabad. Protests have also been reported in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.

News agency PTI reported that Telangana police resorted to aerial firing to disperse the angry crowd at the Secunderabad railway station as protests escalated into large-scale violence and arson.

Also read: What is Indian government’s rationale for Agnipath? Defence Minister Rajnath Singh explains

Protesters are demonstrating on railway tracks and have halted all train movement for the last three hours. Security forces are outnumbered as the railway station has been overrun by angry youth, who have already set three trains on fire.

Hundreds of youths in India burned train coaches, vandalised railroad property and blocked rail tracks and highways with boulders as an angry backlash continued for a second day Friday against a new short-term government recruitment policy for the military.

Also read: Amid Agnipath protests, government raises maximum age to 23 this year

Nearly 500 protesters vastly outnumbered police as they rampaged for more than an hour at Secunderabad railroad station in southern India.

Television images showed people setting empty train coaches on fire and vandalising property belonging to railroad authorities. They burned tires and blocked rail tracks, disrupting train services in the region for several hours. No injuries were immediately reported.

Also read: Agnipath protests: Mob sets trains on fire, railway stations vandalised

The violence also hit eastern Bihar state where protesters set trains on fire at Arrah and Buxar railroad stations and damaged offices and electronic installations. The protesters also blocked highways for hours.

In northern Uttar Pradesh state, protesters threw rocks at buses in the city of Varanasi.

Also read: Agnipath soldier recruitment scheme sets parts of India aflame

Under the new job program announced by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh this week, the armed forces this year can recruit 46,000 men and women in the age group 17.5-21 but only for four years. Seventy-five percent of them will be compulsorily retired after four years with no pension benefits.