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Informist, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court has formed a committee headed by retired apex court judge R. Subhash Reddy to probe the violence during protests in Delhi and other states to demand the resignation of then Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The committee will probe the use of excessive force and violence against protestors by police authorities and other agencies, including the use of pellet guns, electric batons, lathi charges, and tear gas without adequate warning or proportionality, resulting in severe bodily harm.

 

The panel includes retired judge Ravi Shankar Jha, former chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, former Delhi High Court judge Shalinder Kaur, former director of the Central Bureau of investigation Rishi Kumar Shukla, and retired director general of police, Meghalaya, L.R. Bishnoi.

 

The panel will look at the issue of proportionate and measured police response during protests, public gatherings, and peaceful assemblies to strike a balance between the maintenance of public order and the constitutional right to peaceful dissent, the court said. It will consider the desirability of banning the use of metallic kinetic projectiles or pellets fired from pump-action rifles or projectile-action guns, having regard to the grave and, at times, irreversible bodily harm occasioned by their deployment against protestors, the court said.

 

The bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said the panel will look into the necessity of ensuring that police and security personnel wear proper uniforms and visible nameplates at the time of effecting arrests or using force during crowd-control operations, so as to secure accountability and enable the identification of individual officers. The committee will also enquire into allegations of the monitoring and surveillance of protestors by police personnel and the extent to which such measures, if undertaken, are consistent with the protestors' constitutional rights to privacy and free assembly.

 

The committee will probe the alleged incidents of targeted violence, harassment, molestation, and secondary victimisation directed against female protestors, which, given the gravity and sensitivity of the charges, warrant a focused, speedy enquiry, the court said. It will also look into the provision of medical and other requisite support, including award of compensation, to victims of alleged police abuse, including the manner and adequacy of the support extended thus far.

 

The panel will look into the regulation of the issuance of blanket prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, so as to prevent their use as a routine or pre-emptive measure that forecloses the exercise of the right to peaceful assembly rather than as a genuine, proportionate response to a real and imminent threat to public order. It will look into the establishment of strict constitutional thresholds and safeguards to prevent Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, being invoked as an instrument to stifle political dissent and peaceful protest, thereby ensuring that the provision remains confined to its intended purpose and is not permitted to operate as a chilling restraint upon constitutionally protected speech and assembly.

 

In addition, the panel will probe the alleged use of force and violence by protestors against police officers and other security personnel, which, according to the latter’s families, has been understated. It will look into the injuries sustained by police personnel in the course of discharging their duties, as well as the consequent mental and emotional trauma borne by their kith and kin. It will probe the damage to public property on account of the actions of the protestors during the course of their demonstrations, including the destruction of and injury to government installations, vehicles, and other assets belonging to the state and to private citizens alike, the court said.

 

The panel will address certain issues on priority, foremost being the matter relating to the alleged incidents of targeted violence, harassment, and molestation directed against female protestors, the court said. Further, it said the constitution of the panel in no way deters or debars the police and other security forces from taking administrative or disciplinary action against personnel who may be found to be in contravention of the rules governing their conduct.

 

In July, tens of thousands of protesters had marched through the streets of Lutyens's Delhi, demanding Pradhan's resignation over irregularities in the conduct of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduates) 2026 in May. Protesters breached police barricades in an attempt to march to Parliament. According to reports, around 50,000 people, mostly youngsters, confronted security forces at dozens of locations across the New Delhi police district. Police and anti-riot forces responded with batons, tear gas, and water cannons, injuring scores of protestors.

 

Thereafter, Pradhan resigned from the Cabinet. The satirical social media handle Cockroach Janta Party, which had called for the protests, announced the withdrawal of its agitation over the alleged paper leak in the pre-medical entrance examination, saying the Centre had accepted its demands.

 

The petitioners sought the Supreme Court's intervention over multiple incidents of violence during protests by demonstrators, predominantly students, at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and other locations in the capital. They said the violence later spread to Maharashtra, Bihar, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and Kerala. The petitioners also alleged that some violence was perpetrated by police personnel, both in uniform and plainclothes.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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