Congress leaders, including Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Devender Yadav, on Thursday reached the Parliament Street Police Station in New Delhi, where Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi staged a sit-in demanding registration of an FIR over the pellet injuries suffered by student Sahil Lochav during a protest at Jantar Mantar on July 20.
Gandhi arrived at the police station with Lochav and questioned the Delhi Police's claim that its personnel did not use pellet guns during the protest. He displayed pellets allegedly recovered from Lochav's body and cited a report from Lady Hardinge Hospital, claiming the student has more than 200 pellets lodged in his body, including three in his eye.
"He has lost his eye. He will never see from that eye again," Gandhi said, adding that some pellets lodged near Lochav's heart could not be removed.
"What is the evidence? Here is the evidence: these are the pellets," Gandhi said, questioning who fired the pellets if the Delhi Police did not.
Gandhi said the family had submitted a written police complaint and demanded that an FIR be registered. He alleged that police officials had told them they had received orders "from the top" and could not register the case.
"We won't budge from here until an FIR is registered," Gandhi said, accusing Union Home Minister Amit Shah's ministry and Delhi Police of preventing justice.
Several other Congress leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, also reached the protest site. Congress workers used a box charkha and sang songs while demonstrating outside the police station.
Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel were also deployed outside the Parliament Street Police Station amid the protest.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury backed Gandhi's protest, alleging that the police were "taking the dictator route".
"Rahul Gandhi has come here to protest for the students. He is demanding that an FIR be registered but it is not being done," Chowdhury said.
The Congress leaders continued to demand an FIR into the circumstances surrounding Lochav's injuries and sought justice for the student's family.
