Delhi Police files FIR after Rahul Gandhi's seven-hour protest
Rahul Gandhi warned police he would continue his protest for up to six months if an FIR was not filed.
When Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, sat on a dharna at the Parliament Street police station for seven continuous hours, the Delhi Police finally registered an FIR in the case of 19-year-old student protester Sahil Lochab.
Sahil was injured by a pellet gun during a march towards the Parliament on July 20. Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, sat on a dharna outside the Parliament Street police station in Delhi with Sahil and refused to leave until an FIR was registered.
Rahul Gandhi had warned the police,
If an FIR is not registered, I will sit on a dharna outside the police station for 30 days or even six months.
The police collected Sahil's medical report and other related documents and registered an FIR against unknown persons based on his complaint, the police informed.
Rahul Gandhi said,
This is the first step towards justice. The FIR has been registered. Look how long it took. It has been a month since the pellet was fired. Pellets are lodged in his body, three of which are in his eye. It is clear that injustice has been done to Sahil.
Rahul Gandhi stated that he arrived there around 11:30 AM and the FIR was registered almost seven hours later.
He said,
We came here around 11:30 this morning. And now it is 6:30, almost 7 PM, and only then has the FIR been registered. This is a police station located right in the heart of New Delhi, and justice is not being served here. Now imagine what happens at a police station in a village or small town. We have done nothing wrong. We have only demanded justice for an Indian citizen, his mother, and his father.
Sahil told reporters,
I was confident that if the Leader of the Opposition is here, they will have to register the complaint. You have to keep faith. As long as there are leaders like him in the country, you cannot be silenced.
Earlier, the Delhi Police had informed the protesting Rahul Gandhi that the Supreme Court had constituted a High-Powered Expert Committee (HPEC) to investigate allegations of excessive and disproportionate use of force by police and paramilitary forces during student protests. On this basis, the police had initially refused to register an FIR.
During the dharna, Rahul Gandhi wrote on X that
On July 20, the police attacked Sahil with a pellet gun while he was protesting peacefully at Jantar Mantar. As a result, the vision in one of Sahil's eyes is at risk.
Pellet guns were first used against protesters in Kashmir in 2010. In addition, shock batons are also part of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) equipment. The RAF is the riot-control unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which was deployed at Jantar Mantar. The CRPF has not issued a clear statement regarding their use during the protests in Delhi. However, according to a report by The Hindu, the use of pellet guns during the protest march of students on July 20 is recorded in the Delhi Police diary.
It should be noted that according to the police manual and SOP, such guns should be fired from a minimum distance of 500 feet, and the target should be below the waist.
Notably, Rahul Gandhi's dharna continued for several hours. During this time, Rahul Gandhi appeared with Sahil in front of cameras and journalists and held up a small plastic container. He opened the container and poured its contents into his palm to show the journalists.
Rahul Gandhi said,
These are pellets, take a good look at them, these are pellets.
He then asked where these pellets came from and answered himself:
They came from his body.
He asked Sahil to show his injuries. Wearing dark glasses, Sahil rolled up the sleeve of his T-shirt and displayed his injuries.
Rahul Gandhi said,
These pellets hit him here. 200 pellets are inside his body, and three pellets are in his eye.
He then showed reports from Lady Hardinge Medical College and AIIMS and said that these reports indicate that there are over 200 pellets in Sahil's body.
Sahil Lochab told reporters that the incident occurred on July 20. He said,
On July 20, a pellet gun was fired at me. I was admitted to Lady Hardinge and then sent to AIIMS. I underwent surgery at AIIMS, but my vision is still not clear. On August 14, I wrote a seven-page complaint and gave it to my lawyer, but no FIR was registered.
His lawyer alleged that during the attempt to file the complaint, they were repeatedly sent between Connaught Place Police Station and Parliament Street Police Station.
The lawyer stated,
On August 14, we went to Connaught Place police station. They informed us that all cases related to Jantar Mantar had been transferred to Parliament Street Police Station. We went there, but they said the incident location falls under Connaught Place jurisdiction, and we should go there. We went back there.
According to the lawyer, the police returned the complaint after reading it and made them wait for a long time.
The lawyer alleged,
The SHO personally spoke to me on the phone and said they would not take the case and had received orders from above.
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah demanding accountability for the barbaric attack on students protesting peacefully. He also asked whether the use of lethal force like pellet guns against the youth had his approval.
It should be noted that in July, Rahul Gandhi led a Congress protest against the paper leak and the attack on students, marching towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence. A few hours later, the police removed him from there. He sat on the road and refused to leave. Eventually, he was taken away by the police, and at that time, he was seen with blood coming from his nose.