Police used excessive force during Delhi protests: Amnesty

Amnesty International has accused police forces in India of using excessive force during youth-led protests in Delhi and Bihar, which led to the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The rights group reported that officers employed electric shock devices, pellet guns, tear gas launchers, grenades, and batons against protesters, some of whom were as young as 19.

The demonstrations were ignited by the leak of NET-UG paper on July 20, prompting thousands of demonstrators to march towards Parliament. According to Amnesty, witness testimonies and visual evidence corroborated the use of forceful weaponry, including pellet-firing shotguns and tear gas, in Delhi and Bihar. The group also confirmed two instances of police officers unlawfully using lethal force against a crowd in Bihar's Siwan district.

Notably, no fatalities were reported during the protests. Amnesty emphasized that the deployed weapons violated international law and domestic policing guidelines, describing the response as state-sanctioned violence disguised as crowd control. The Delhi Police argued in a Supreme Court hearing that they had only used force after protesters turned violent, attributing injuries to anti-social elements posing as aggrieved students.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who staged a sit-in with a 19-year-old protestor injured by pellets, called for a police investigation into the shooting. Following the incident, officers registered a case over the complaint.