Tear gas, lathis and pitched battles as CJP storm Parliament; police clear Jantar Mantar
NEW DELHI, July 20: White clouds of teargas hung over Parliament House on Monday as thousands of angry young people, many in school uniforms and cockroach costumes, tried to force their way towards the first day of the Monsoon session. What began as the “Chalo Sansad” march by the Cockroach Janta Party ended in pitched battles, injuries on both sides, and the complete dismantling of the month-old protest camp at Jantar Mantar.
By evening, police had vacated the iconic protest site. CJP founders and activists, including Gitanjali Angmo, wife of fasting education crusader Sonam Wangchuk, shifted to a sit-in near Kerala House.
A two-member CJP team met Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda in a bid to de-escalate the crisis, even as both Houses of Parliament were repeatedly adjourned amid opposition uproar.
The CJP, which began as an organic protest against paper leaks and the education system after Chief Justice of India Surya Kant’s “cockroaches” remark, has been camping at Jantar Mantar since June 20.
Exactly a month later, the main stage was pulled down and the three young activists on indefinite fast called it off. Hundreds, however, refused to leave.
Clashes, injuries and competing claims
Police sources said more than 50 police personnel and protesters were injured in the New Delhi district clashes. Around 100 people were detained and 65 medico-legal cases registered at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.
Later in the evening, Delhi Police revised the figures upward, claiming over 118 personnel, including senior officers, were injured.
Around 70 protesters were detained and an FIR registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for rioting, assault on public servants and damage to public property.
Police said protesters attacked personnel with stones, breached barricades, vandalised 15-20 government vehicles and damaged public property.
“The protesters displayed unruly, aggressive and violent behaviour. Despite repeated warnings and lawful directions, they refused to disperse and deliberately violated the prohibitory orders,” the force said.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, who had taken up the fast after Wangchuk was removed from Jantar Mantar after 21 days without food, painted a starkly different picture.
“Police have been absolutely brutal. They have fractured the skulls of many students who were protesting here. Even a 15-year-old girl was brutally beaten up by a male police officer. A male police officer even tried to grab the hair of Sonam Wangchuk’s wife, Gitanjali Angmo. They even tried to lathicharge her and drag her out of the tempo,” Dipke alleged.
Police flatly rejected the charge against Angmo.
“Reports claiming that Angmo was assaulted or had her hair pulled by police personnel are completely false and misleading. No individuals were subjected to targeted assault, and claims suggesting malicious force or personal targeting are entirely baseless,” the force said on X.
Videos circulating on social media showed stones littering Connaught Place roads and crowds damaging parked vehicles. Several metro stations nearby shut their gates, leaving commuters stranded.
Nadda offers talks
CJP said Nadda assured them he would hold internal discussions and sought time to align with the government leadership on three key demands: immediate release of Wangchuk, resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, and Rs 1-crore compensation for every NEET aspirant who had died by suicide.
Wangchuk, admitted at Safdarjung Hospital, remained unmoved.
Through Angmo he reiterated three conditions for ending his fast: Pradhan’s resignation, an assurance from cabinet ministers and MPs that education issues would be taken up in the Monsoon session, and concrete action on the memorandum submitted by protesters covering alleged NEET paper leaks and the state of government schools.
“Only if these assurances are given will Sonam end his fast,” Angmo said.
She claimed the movement now enjoys the support of an estimated 25 lakh young people.
By late evening, central Delhi remained under heavy security. The leafy avenues around Parliament and Jantar Mantar, usually calm on a Monday, looked like a city under siege.
CJP declared the “peaceful protest is not ending.” Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka, Saurav Das and Angmo continued their sit-in near Kerala House, determined to keep the pressure on even after the stage at Jantar Mantar had been reduced to rubble. (Agencies)
