Supreme Court forms committee to probe police action against NEET protesters

NEW DELHI: A day after the Supreme Court announced it will be setting up a committee to examine allegations of excessive use of force by security personnel against students during the July 20 student march over the NEET paper leak, the top court on Thursday said that a five-member panel will be headed by former SC judge Justice R Subhash Reddy.

Other members of the committee include former Punjab and Haryana high court Chief Justice Ravi Shankar Jha, former Delhi high court judge Justice Shalinder Kaur, former CBI director Rishi Kumar Shukla and retired Meghalaya Director General of Police Dr LR Bishnoi. The committee will examine allegations of excessive use of pellet guns, electric batons, lathi charges and tear gas, along with alleged violence against women protesters.

It will also look into police surveillance, the proportionality of crowd-control measures, and the provision of medical assistance and compensation to victims. The committee will also consider allegations by authorities of violence against police personnel and damage to public property. This comes as the apex court is hearing a batch of petitions alleging excessive police action against students who participated in protests at Jantar Mantar and other locations across the country over alleged NEET examination paper leaks and broader concerns relating to the examination system.

The proceedings come against the backdrop of weeks of student demonstrations led by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) at Jantar Mantar, including a hunger strike and a subsequent march towards Parliament. On July 20, thousands of students participated in a Parliament march organised by the CJP, demanding, among other things, the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged examination paper leaks and seeking wider reforms in the examination system.

As demonstrators attempted to move towards Parliament and breach police barricades in central Delhi, security personnel used tear gas and lathi-charge to disperse the protesters. Several videos subsequently circulated on social media, purportedly showing protesters being manhandled by police personnel, leading to allegations of excessive use of force. The Delhi Police, however, defended its action and maintained that force was used only after sections of the protesting crowd allegedly turned violent and engaged in stone-pelting.