The student outfit has sought Union home minister Amit Shah to respond to its demands.
New Delhi:The All India Students Association (AISA) on Monday threatened to move its exam paper-leak agitation to Bihar on July 30 if the students arrested during the “Chalo Sansad” protest are not released immediately. The AISA, which supported and participated in the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)-led protests, has called on all student organisations to converge in Bihar on the protest day.
The AISA claimed that in parts of the country, particularly West Bengal, the administration targeted students from the minority community. The student outfit has sought Union home minister Amit Shah to respond to its demands.
As the use of pellet guns against the protesters during the NEET paper leak agitation has come under fire, a meeting was held at the Delhi police headquarters to discuss the entry in the Parliament Street police station's general diary stating that RAF personnel had used the “non-lethal” weapon following orders from DCP (North) Raja Banthia. Three students reportedly received "grave pellet injuries", while one girl student received a gunshot injury. The anti-riot force, the RAF, had been requisitioned by the Delhi police to handle the protest.
The AISA has also dubbed the new anti-paper leak amendment Bill an eyewash, while the Lok Sabha has initiated debate on strengthening the punishment regime for the perpetrators of paper leaks. The Rajya Sabha was, however, adjourned for the day over the paper-leak issue.
Amid the AISA’s call to intensify its stir, the CJP has also threatened to resume the protests if all the protesters who have been detained or arrested are not released immediately. In a late evening post on X, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said: “If the harassment of students at the hands of the police continues, the Cockroach Janta Party will respond with a massive peaceful protest soon. The government must stop targeting and witch-hunting students.”
At Delhi’s Press Club of India, AISA national president Neha Bora said it was only because of the student organisation’s intervention that 355 of the juveniles and women out of 600 people detained in Bihar are said to have been released. "But CPI(ML) Liberation MLA Sandeep Saurav and several AISA activists still remain behind bars for participating in protests against paper leaks.”
Presenting what it described as a fact-finding report, AISA Delhi University secretary Anjali demanded strict action against those police personnel who allegedly “assaulted women protesters” by hitting them on their private parts in the heart of the national capital.
In the Delhi High Court, Justice Girish Kathpalia said the right to protest did not extend to damaging the "seat of sovereignty", and a police officer's image cannot be "tarnished" over an alleged "overuse of power" during the July 20 march to Parliament.
The judge made the observations while dismissing a petition seeking withdrawal of an inquiry from the Delhi police's additional DCP Sandeep Lamba after he was seen slapping a woman during the Chalo Sansad march called by the CJP and consequential administrative action was taken against him.
Advocate M. Sufian Siddiqui contended that the petitioner's confidence in the fairness of the inquiry into her alleged illegal detention in 2025 has been irretrievably shaken due to Lamba's conduct, as seen in the video clip, and therefore, the proceedings should be assigned to an independent officer.
Justice Kathpalia, however, asserted that the police officer had the right to a fair trial, and even if he was seen slapping a woman, he may not be biased in every case. “Just because he is caught on some video clip slapping a lady, we cannot tarnish him in black. Are we aware of the ground realities? How the crowd would have entered the Parliament and firing would have started? So many people would have died," the court remarked.
Retired Delhi police personnel have, meanwhile, sought permission from the Delhi police to hold a peaceful dharna at Jantar Mantar on Friday in solidarity with police personnel injured during the Chalo Sansad protest and to demand strict legal action against those allegedly involved in violence and vandalism.
In a letter addressed to Delhi police Commissioner Anurag Kumar, the Delhi Police Mahasangh (Delhi Police Retired Non-Gazetted/Gazetted Officers Association) sought permission to organise the one-day protest from 11 am to 5 pm at the designated protest site at Jantar Mantar.
The association said it wanted to press for strict legal action against "habitual offenders, anti-social elements, gangsters and violent instigators" allegedly involved in assaulting police personnel and damaging public property during the protest.
