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Informist, Wednesday, Jul. 29, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi Wednesday demanded that Union Home Minister Amit Shah should take responsibility for the brutal police crackdown on agitating students in Delhi on Jul. 20 and step down. He also demanded a Supreme Court-monitored high-level investigation into the police action where pellet guns and shock batons were used against protesters.  

 

"There can only be two possibilities: one is that Home Minister Amit Shah ordered the use of pellet guns and shock batons against innocent students. The second is that he was unaware of what was happening on the ground on Jul. 20," Gandhi said at a press conference here.

 

"In the first case, if it happened under his orders, he (Shah) is culpable. If he didn't know of this, he is incompetent. In either case he must go," the senior Indian National Congress leader stressed.

 

This is the first time the contentious pellet gun has been used against protesters in the national capital. The Delhi Police initially denied using pellet guns, but a report in The Hindu cited a general diary entry at the Parliament Street police station mentioning that the Rapid Action Force did fire two rounds from an anti-riot gun on the directions of an officer of the rank of deputy commissioner of police.

 

In 2019, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights described the 12-gauge pump-action shotgun firing metal pellets as "one of the most dangerous weapons used in Kashmir" and said such weapons should be used only in accordance with the strict principles of necessity and proportionality.

 

Earlier in the day, Gandhi made a demand in the Lok Sabha that the home minister should come clean on the issue. "Why is the home minister not here? The home minister does not have the courage to come and sit in the House," he said while speaking on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, in the Lok Sabha. The government brought the Bill after nationwide protests by students against the alleged leak of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test question paper in May.

 

Asked why he did not speak on the contents of the Bill in the House, Gandhi said there was "nothing worth discussing" in the proposed legislation. "The government is saying they would severely punish those involved in paper leaks. It means they are conceding that paper leaks will happen," he said. "That is not what the students are demanding. They are demanding a robust education and examination system."

 

He said he is "proud" of all the youngsters who came out to protest against the system. "These youngsters have the courage that their parents did not have. The accountability of every one of those who attacked them is going to be fixed. That is the Opposition's promise to our students," he said.  End

 

Reported by Asim Khan

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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