Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s over six-hour dharna outside Parliament Street Police Station on Friday ended with Delhi Police registering an FIR on a complaint alleging that student Sahil Lochav suffered pellet-gun injuries during the July 20 Jantar Mantar protest.
Gandhi had accompanied 19-year-old Lochav to the police station and demanded action after the student’s earlier attempts to get a case registered allegedly failed. The Congress had claimed that Lochav submitted a written complaint on August 14 but was not given an acknowledgement or an I/O number. The complaint was followed up through email and phone calls on August 17, it said.
Gandhi met senior police officials at the DCP office before staging the dharna, insisting that the alleged incident warranted registration of an FIR. Police subsequently registered the case on Lochav’s complaint, following which Gandhi called off the protest. He and Lochav later showed the FIR copy to the media.
Gandhi has alleged that protesters were fired at with pellet guns during the July 20 agitation and cited Lochav’s medical reports while demanding accountability. However, official confirmation of pellet-gun use against protesters has not been established. A police daily diary entry, meanwhile, recorded the use of anti-riot guns and plastic pellets by Rapid Action Force personnel during crowd-control efforts.
The controversy has already reached the Supreme Court, which on Thursday constituted a five-member high-powered committee headed by former judge Justice R Subhash Reddy to examine allegations of police excesses during the protests, including the alleged use of pellet guns, electric batons, lathis and tear gas.
BJP lambasts Rahul’s protest
The BJP criticised Gandhi’s dharna, accusing him of political grandstanding while the matter is already under judicial scrutiny.
Union minister and BJP leader JP Nadda questioned the need for the protest, saying the Supreme Court-appointed panel was examining the July 20 incident. BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad accused Gandhi of indulging in the “politics of anarchy” and said the protest was unnecessary.
The Congress, however, maintained that Gandhi’s intervention was aimed at securing justice and accountability for the alleged victims of the July 20 police action.
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