‘Excessive and disproportionate force’: SCBA and SCAORA condemn Jantar Mantar lathi charge as Supreme Court declines to intervene
While the Supreme Court called it a waste of its time to examine videos of the crackdown, the SCBA and SCAORA demanded an impartial inquiry into the police action against Chalo Sansad protesters.
Published on: 22 July 2026, 03:07 pm
ON JULY 20, the student protest march, which coincided with the first day of the Parliament’s Monsoon Session, at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi turned into a site of heavy police crackdown on the protesting students. The internet was flooded with visuals of the Delhi Police and the Rapid Action Force (‘RAF’) brutally beating and tear-gassing protesting students. Many were left bleeding. Instances of use of pellet guns and shock batons were also reported widely across national media platforms.
Chief Justice of India (‘CJI’) Surya Kant, while declining to take suo moto cognisance, orally remarked that it would be a “waste” of the Supreme Court’s time to look into the crackdown, even as lawyers pressed with videos of police atrocities against the protesters. “We are not interested in videos. We don’t have time to watch them,” the Chief Justice said.
The Delhi High Court, however, has issued notice to the Centre and the Delhi Police on two public interest litigations flagging the use of tear gas, lathi charges and other excesses at the protest. A bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia observed that the complaints were not about “isolated” incidents and sought a response from the police. During the hearing, the advocates for the petitioners argued that there was no evidence that protesters had turned violent, and that over 90 students had suffered injuries and pressed for an FIR against the policemen identified in the videos.
Chief Justice Surya Kant orally remarked that it would be a “waste” of the Court’s time to look into the crackdown.“We are not interested in videos. We don’t have time to watch them,” he said.
SCBA President writes to the Prime Minister and the Home Minister
The Supreme Court Bar Association (‘SCBA’) President Dr. Vikas Singh, Senior Advocate, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking a judicial enquiry. Singh’s letter detailed a pattern of alleged police excess including students struck on the head with lathis, unidentified plain-clothed individuals assaulting protesters, tear gas fired at hunger-striking students near Central Secretariat metro station, and journalists and medical personnel obstructed and attacked while performing their duties.
He argued the crackdown violated Section 148 and Section 149(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, which govern minimum force in dispersing assemblies, along with Articles 14, 19(1)(a), 19(1)(b) and 21. Singh linked the protest to a broader pattern of examination leaks stretching from the 2017 AIIMS-MBBS exam to the 2026 NEET-UG leak, arguing that repeated institutional failures under the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 left students no recourse but peaceful protest. He sought a time-bound judicial commission under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952, the suspension of Delhi’s Police Commissioner, FIRs against officers who breached procedure, and accountability from the Ministry of Education for the security of national exams.