Cockroach Janata Party founder (CJP) Abhijeet Dipke (PTI)

Former Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale has filed a Special Procedures complaint with the United Nations Human Rights Council over the Delhi Police's handling of students-led protest march at Jantar Mantar on July 20, according to a statement he posted on Instagram.

The protest was organised by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which had been holding a sit-in since June 20 over alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG paper leak.

More than 10,000 protesters gathered at Jantar Mantar and attempted to march toward Parliament under the banner "Chalo Sansad." Organisers had reportedly asked participants to carry only the national flag or images of figures such as B.R. Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi, or Bhagat Singh, and to avoid political or organisational flags.

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The march followed a meeting between CJP representatives and Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda, at which they pressed demands including the release of activist Sonam Wangchuk and the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Police responded with a lathi charge and tear gas to disperse the crowd.

The UN Complaint

According to Gokhale's post, the complaint — addressed to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and dated July 22, 2026 — invokes five separate mandates: arbitrary detention, freedom of peaceful assembly and association, protection of human rights defenders, torture and ill-treatment, and violence against women and girls.

Gokhale's submission reportedly documents several specific claims:

  • Roughly 70 people were detained by official police count, though Gokhale alleges an opposition parliamentarian put the number closer to 3,000 students held without food or water, a claim police have denied.
  • Allegations of injuries to minors present at the assembly, including a report of a head injury to a 12-year-old girl, which police have publicly rejected.
  • The forcible removal of Sonam Wangchuk from the protest site while on hunger strike, and his subsequent hospital transfer.
  • Journalists and camera crews allegedly struck during the police action despite displaying press credentials.
  • The detention of a sitting Member of Parliament and, separately, three opposition leaders staging a sit-in near the Prime Minister's residence the following day.

Gokhale's post frames the complaint as a means of pursuing international accountability given what he describes as blocked domestic avenues, while acknowledging that UN Special Procedures experts have no power to compel the Indian government to act. Their role, he noted, is limited to writing to the government and publishing both the allegations and any official response.

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