NEW DELHI: Amnesty International has accused Indian police of using excessive force, including electric shock devices and pellet guns, against youth-led protests that led to the resignation of the country’s education minister last month.
The rights group’s findings contradict the police’s account that force was used only after protesters became violent. The report comes days after India’s Supreme Court established a panel to investigate violence involving both demonstrators and police.
The protests began in New Delhi following the leak of the national medical entrance examination and escalated on July 20, when thousands of demonstrators attempted to march towards parliament.
According to Amnesty International, verified witness accounts and visual evidence showed that police used “pellet-firing shotguns, tear gas launchers, grenades, batons and electric shock devices against protesters” in Delhi and the eastern state of Bihar.
The organisation also said it had verified two incidents in which a police officer “unlawfully using lethal force against a crowd” in Bihar’s Siwan district. No deaths were reported.
“The weapons were deployed in a manner that breached international law and standards and domestic policing guidelines,” Amnesty said.
While acknowledging “isolated incidents of protesters throwing stones”, the rights group said the “heavy-handed response was state-sanctioned violence masked as crowd control”.
Delhi Police, however, told the Supreme Court last week that force was used only after protesters “resorted to violence”. Police also alleged that anti-social elements “masquerading as aggrieved students” inflicted “grievous injuries” on security personnel.
On Friday, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi held a sit-in outside a Delhi police station alongside a 19-year-old protester who alleged he was injured by pellets during the July 20 demonstrations. Gandhi called for an investigation, after which police registered a case based on the complaint.
Led by the online Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), the demonstrations expanded beyond concerns over alleged exam irregularities to include wider frustration over unemployment, limited opportunities for young people and criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
The protests emerged as the most significant challenge to Modi’s government since he secured a third term in office in 2024.
