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Force, protests, NEET leak
Amnesty International accused Indian police of using excessive force, including electric shock devices and pellet guns, against youth-led protests that forced the education minister to resign last month.
“including electric shock devices and pellet guns”
The protests in New Delhi were triggered by the leak of the national medical entrance test and turned violent on July 20 when thousands of protesters attempted to march towards parliament.
Amnesty said witness testimony and visual evidence it had verified confirmed the use of “pellet-firing shotguns, tear gas launchers, grenades, batons and electric shock devices against protesters” in Delhi and the eastern state of Bihar.
Amnesty also said it had verified two instances of a police officer “unlawfully using lethal force against a crowd” in Bihar’s Siwan district, adding that no one was killed.
Delhi Police denies, Gandhi acts
Delhi Police told a Supreme Court hearing last week that it had used force only after protesters “resorted to violence,” and said anti-social elements “masquerading as aggrieved students” caused “grievous injuries” to security forces.
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi staged a sit-in outside a Delhi police station on Friday with a 19-year-old protester who said he was injured by pellets during the July 20 demonstration.
Amnesty International said on Monday that its Evidence Lab verified 17 videos filmed on 20 July in central Delhi across the area spanning Jantar Mantar, Sansad Marg and Connaught Place and two videos filmed in Siwan town of Bihar state on 24 July.
Amnesty International said that on X, Delhi Police publicly denied any disproportionate use of force, repeating it before India’s Supreme Court, describing its handling of the protest as “professional”.
Supreme Court panel, impunity
The Amnesty report said it comes after India’s Supreme Court set up a panel on Thursday to investigate violence by both police and demonstrators.
“India’s Supreme Court set up a panel on Thursday”
Amnesty International said that one month after police deployed unlawful and deadly force against peaceful protesters at the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP)-led “Chalo Sansad” march, not a single officer in Delhi has been held accountable.
Amnesty International’s investigation described a “communication blackout, barricades and transport disruption” and said authorities then attempted to crush the protests with unnecessary or excessive use of force against peaceful protesters, including children.
Amnesty International’s Evidence Lab verified two videos showing an RAF officer firing a shotgun into the crowd at the intersection of Connaught Place and Sansad Marg, and Amnesty said the weapons were deployed in a manner that breached international law and standards and domestic policing guidelines.