On Friday, police registered a first information report (FIR) against unidentified individuals following a complaint from a Delhi University student who sustained pellet injuries during protests on July 20. The 19-year-old was accompanied by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who joined her in a sit-in outside a police station for over six hours to demand justice.
Student recalls July 20 police excesses
“I was then helped by Gandhi …I hoped that if he comes, my case will be heard. I’m the eldest son and these injuries have affected my future career goals and my studies. I’m a student and I participated in the protest against the NEET paper leak and Delhi Police recruitment exam cheating. During the afternoon, there was a lathicharge and stampede-like situation. I, along with other youngsters, started running towards the Palika Bazar area. I had the national flag. There, police started lathicharge and threw tear gas shells causing the same stampede-like situation. All of a sudden, I felt something explode on the right side of my face, eye and chest. I turned around and saw a personnel in blue uniform with a big rifle. There was blood all over my eye, face, chest and hand. Someone made me sit on a bike and took me to LHMC.
Also Read I Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ campaign gets police nod By 12.30-1 pm, police barricaded Tolstoy Marg and Sansad Marg due to the swelling crowds. Because of him, I suffered many pellet injuries. Between 12.30pm and 6.30 pm, meetings took place between joint commissioner of police (New Delhi) Nupur Prasad, Sharma, Lochab and Gandhi. “On July 20, I joined the Jantar Mantar protest which was against the paper leak… I was shot 5-6 times with pellets.
Gandhi’s dramatic stir outside the Parliament Street Police Station turned into a major political controversy with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacking him for what it called “attention-seeking politics”. Sahil Lochab, a Delhi University’s school of open learning student, said that for the past eight days, he visited the Connaught Place, Sansad Marg and Mandir Marg police station and the crime branch office to register an FIR, but everyone rejected him. They sent me to Safdarjung who then referred me to AIIMS,” Lochab said in the FIR.
