Delhi HC asks Delhi Police to explain its actions

SOCIAL – UNREST

23 JULY 2026

• The Delhi High Court asked the Centre and the Delhi Police to respond to a batch of public interest litigation (PIL) petitions alleging that the police used excessive force against students and other protesters during the Parliament march called by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on July 20, 2026.
• A Bench of Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia observed that the allegations could not be brushed aside as “isolated incidents”, and ordered that all relevant material, including CCTV footage and videography, be preserved in accordance with the standard operating procedures of the Delhi Police.
• Appearing for one of the petitioners, senior advocate N. Hariharan alleged that the protesters were subjected to “brutality to the largest extent” by the state machinery.
• “There are videos of several people in civil clothes carrying lathis, lathis with nails, electric batons, and pellet guns. There is not a whisper that anybody in the march was violent,” he submitted.
• Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing in one of the petitions, alleged that a large number of police personnel were deployed without nameplates and they used batons not authorised by the Delhi Police.
• The senior advocate further alleged that some policemen could be seen molesting women.
• Additional DCP Sandeep Lamba was seen slapping a woman standing on the sidelines of the protest.
• According to him, more than 90 people had suffered injuries, with the number continuing to rise.
• Warning against unchecked police action, he submitted, “If constitutional courts do not intervene, it would amount to giving the police a licence to get away with anything because they have the sanction of their political masters.”
• Additional Solicitor-General S.V. Raju alleged that the agitation had turned violent, with the protesters throwing stones and injuring police personnel.
• Senior advocate Vikas Singh, representing petitioners, submitted that the students had been protesting for nearly 20 days over alleged irregularities in the NEET before deciding to march to Parliament.