Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra left the Parliament Street Police Station on Thursday after Delhi Police registered an FIR on the complaint of student Sahil Lochav, who suffered pellet gun injuries during a students' protest at Jantar Mantar last month.
The FIR has been registered under Sections 118 and 125 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Section 118 deals with voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt using dangerous weapons or means, while Section 125 relates to acts endangering the life or personal safety of others.
The FIR came after Rahul Gandhi staged a sit-in outside the police station, demanding action over Lochav's injuries. Congress leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Devender Yadav, had joined him at the protest site.
Speaking to the media after the FIR was registered, Gandhi called it "the first step towards justice" and highlighted the extent of Lochav's injuries.
"This is the first step towards justice. The case has been registered. It has been a month since he was hit by that bullet. Pellets are still lodged in his body; three are in his eye, and he cannot see out of it. Three or four are near his heart," Gandhi said.
Gandhi said Congress leaders had arrived at the police station around 11 am or 11.30 am and had remained there until nearly 6.45 pm before the FIR was registered.
"A grave injustice has been done to this young man," he said, adding that the delay raised concerns about access to justice even at a police station in central Delhi.
Gandhi alleged that the final approval for registering the FIR had to come from Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Home Secretary.
"So, you can understand who was holding up the FIR," he said, alleging that police officers wanted to register the case but that "the brakes on justice were being applied from the top."
Earlier, Gandhi had questioned the Delhi Police's claim that its personnel did not use pellet guns during the protest and displayed pellets he said had been recovered from Lochav's body.
The Congress leader also said the party had not committed any wrongdoing by demanding justice for Lochav and his family, and questioned what happens at police stations in smaller towns and villages if it takes hours to register an FIR in the national capital.
