New Delhi (TIP): Police on , Aug 21, lodged a first information report (FIR) against unknown people on a complaint by a Delhi University student with pellet injuries during the July 20 protests, after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accompanied the 19-year-old and sat in protest outside a police station for more than six hours.
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’s FIR has been registered. This is the first step towards justice. But think about it – even permission to file an FIR had to come from the home ministry. Now it’s clear who has been holding the reins on justice,” Gandhi said outside the station after the FIR was filed at 7pm.
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. “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.”
This is the first FIR filed in connection with allegations of pellet gun use during the sprawling student protests on July 20 – more than a month after the incident. It was registered under sections 118 and 125 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. Section 118 relates to voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means, while section 125 deals with acts endangering the life or personal safety of others.
Five people – Sheikh Irshad Mansuri, a 25-year-old employee with a private firm, Nootan Toppo, a 32-year-old woman from Gurugram, a 28-year-old reporter, Prashant Singh, a 25-year-old Bihar resident, and 19-year-old Sahil Lochab, a student aspiring to join the police force – have alleged that they were hit with pellets on July 20. Mansuri, Singh and former IPS officer Yashovardhan Azad have also approached the Supreme Court, which on Thursday announced a five-member committee to look into allegations of police excesses and violence on July 20, and whether pellet guns should be used in crowd control, among other issues.
The issue also roiled the monsoon session of Parliament with the Opposition demanding a response from Union home minister Amit Shah over police violence and pellet injuries. At least two rounds of pellets were used on July 20 on the orders of a deputy commissioner of the Delhi Police, according to the statement of a RAF deputy commander recorded in a general diary entry at the Parliament Street police station. The diary entry – filed at 1.24am on July 22 by a Delhi Police sub-inspector and seen by HT – was the first document that showed the usage of pellets on July 20.
“It has been a month since he was hit by that bullet. Pellets are still lodged in his body; three are in his eye, and he cannot see out of it. Three or four are near his heart. A grave injustice has been done to this young man,” Gandhi said. Union health minister JP Nadda said Gandhi’s protest was not about students or justice at all. “It is a symbol of the Congress party’s political desperation and Rahul Gandhi’s hunger for media attention,” he said.
The drama began at 11am when Gandhi, Lochab and his mother reached the Mandir Marg police station. He then went to Connaught Place, and finally at Parliament Street to meet deputy commissioner of police Sachin Sharma.
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