Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday asked Union Home Minister Amit Shah whether he had ordered the use of lethal forces against students during the youth protests in Delhi on July 20.
In a letter to the Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Gandhi also asked whether the persons wearing plain clothes, seen assaulting students with lathis in videos widely shared online, were police personnel or volunteers. “Who authorised their deployment?” the Congress leader asked.
The agitation in Delhi began on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party began a protest at Jantar Mantar to demand the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union education minister at the time, over the alleged irregularities in the conduct of competitive exams.
On July 20, thousands joined the protest two days after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike for three weeks, to hospital. Their march to Parliament was met with a crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured as the police used lathis, fired tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators.
The police action turbocharged the agitation, which spread to other parts of the country and forced Pradhan to resign on Saturday.
In the letter made public on Sunday, Gandhi demanded accountability for the “barbaric assault” on the protesters, saying that the security forces deployed in the national capital report to Shah.
“Most shocking has been the use of lethal pellet guns,” Gandhi said. “Reports in the media and social media clearly show people who have suffered grave injuries, including a journalist.”
The Congress leader’s letter came as the Opposition is expected to raise the assault on the protesters in Parliament as both Houses reconvene on Monday.
While withdrawing the agitation on Saturday, the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign, which led the protest, said that a public apology from the Rapid Action Force and the Delhi Police were pending.
Gandhi has also repeatedly demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi must apologise to the protesting students and take action “against those guilty of violence against students”.
The Central Reserve Police Force had set up an inquiry into whether pellet guns had been used by its Rapid Action Force personnel on July 20.
On Monday, The Indian Express quoted unidentified officials as saying that a person from the force deployed in Connaught Place fired at least seven rounds from his pellet gun. While five rounds hit protesters, two struck the ground, the newspaper reported.
Written by Nachiket Deuskar. Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.
Follow Scroll’s coverage of the youth protests here.
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