Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 21: The Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, ended his over-six-hour dharna at the Parliament Street police station in New Delhi on Friday evening after an FIR was registered in the case of the 19-year old student protester Sahil Lochab who suffered pellet-gun injuries during the July 20 march on Parliament as part of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) rally at Jantar Mantar against the alleged question paper leaks.
The FIR has been registered on a complaint by Lochab under Section 118 (1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Act, 2023, which deals with voluntarily causing hurt using dangerous weapons or means. Sahil Lochab has mentioned in his complaint that doctors have told him that there are more than 200 pellets in his body. His eye has been injured due to a pellet injury and his ability to see again is less than 1%. The case has been assigned to an Investigating Officer at Parliament Street police station.
The police have collected the medical report and other related documents and the FIR has been filed against unknown persons based on the complaint given by the victim, police said. Mr Gandhi, who had earlier refused to budge till an FIR was filed in the case, later said this was only the first step towards justice.
“This is the first step towards justice and a case has been registered,” Mr Gandhi said, soon after the Delhi Police registered the FIR. “There are pellets in his body and he cannot even see as he has suffered injuries in his eye. This is injustice with this youngster. For almost a month, he has been calling for the registration of an FIR and moving from one police station to another. After hours of protest, an FIR has been registered. One can imagine what the people of the country suffer when they seek justice. There are several rape victims and victims of intimidation and they continue to fight while seeking justice,” the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
Mr Gandhi, who had earlier alleged that police were “under pressure from the top” for not registering a complaint, claimed that the FIR was lodged only after clearance from top authorities in the Home Ministry. “The final FIR has been registered after an okay from the Home Secretary and (Home Minister) Amit Shah, then you can imagine who was stopping the registration of an FIR as these cops wanted to do so but were not allowed to do so,” he said.
The Congress workers climbed the gates of the police station and raised slogans such as ‘Rahul Gandhi Zindabad’. Sahil Lochab and his mother later came out of the DCP office and addressed the media about the FIR. Showing the copy of the registered FIR, Sahil and his mother thanked Mr Gandhi for helping him register it. They said they have been roaming around since August 14. They said since the final order came from Home Minister we now know who had been holding the FIR registration process so far.
Thanking Rahul Gandhi for taking efforts to get the FIR registered, Sahil’s mother said, “Today, with the support of Rahul Gandhi, we were able to get the FIR registered. It’s been month since the incident happened. Sahil has pellets in his body and has injury in his eyes also. The police have taken so long to get even the FIR registered.” AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal alleged that Union Home Minister Amit Shah has directed the Delhi Police not to register an FIR on Lochab’s complaint.
The Delhi Police had earlier informed the protesting Congress leader that the Supreme Court has constituted a High-Powered Expert Committee (HPEC) to examine allegations of excessive and disproportionate use of force by the police, paramilitary forces during the student protests as it refused to file the FIR.
While on dharna, Rahul Gandhi posted on X that “on July 20 the police attacked Sahil, who was peacefully protesting at Jantar Mantar, with a pellet gun”. As a result, Gandhi said, Sahil’s “vision in one eye is now at risk.” The Delhi police has denied the use of pellet guns – which can spray dozens of small metal pellets, or birdshot, at a time, and can cause severe injuries – on student protesters.
Speaking to reporters, Lochab said the alleged incident took place on July 20. “On July 20, pellet guns were fired at me. I was admitted to Lady Hardinge, and from there, I was referred to AIIMS. I underwent surgery at AIIMS, but the vision in my eye is still not clear. On August 14, I wrote a seven-page complaint and gave it to my lawyer, but the FIR has not been registered,” he said.
His lawyer alleged that they were sent back and forth between Connaught Place Police Station and Parliament Street Police Station while trying to submit the complaint. “On August 14, we went to the police station in Connaught Place. They told us that all Jantar Mantar cases had been transferred to Parliament Street Police Station. We came here, but they told us that the place of the incident falls under the Connaught Place area and that we should go there. We went back to them,” the lawyer said.
According to the lawyer, the police returned the complaint after reading it and made them wait for a long time. “The SHO spoke to me personally on the phone and told me that they would not take up the case and that they had received orders from above,” the lawyer alleged.
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, demanding accountability for the “barbaric assault” on peacefully protesting students and asked whether he approved the use of “lethal force” including pellet guns, against the youth.
The Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge launched a scathing attack on the BJP after Rahul Gandhi’s dharna saying those shedding “crocodile tears” over nationalism were the biggest enemies of the country’s youth. Hitting out at the government over alleged police brutality against student protesters on July 20, Mr Kharge said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not uttered a single word to this day, and Home Minister Amit Shah has kept dodging accountability.