LIVE: Fresh police crackdown on Jantar Mantar protesters; tear gas fired, internet cut off

Police stopped a delegation of Opposition MPs from meeting activist Sonam Wangchuk at Medanta Hospital. Reacting to the move, Samajwadi Party MP Priya Saroj said the MPs would continue their sit-in until they were allowed to meet Wangchuk.

"We will remain here until we get an opportunity to meet him, whether it is day or night. Show us this medical protocol. Many leaders were allowed to meet him before us, but when we arrived, the police cited medical protocol. The police's attitude towards us was completely wrong, and we will not leave until we are allowed to meet him," she said.

The delegation handed over a letter to Wangchuk's wife, Dr Gitanjali Angmo, urging the activist to end his indefinite fast in view of his deteriorating health.

Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh said a 15-member delegation comprising MPs from the Samajwadi Party, RJD, CPI(M), JMM, BJD and AAP was denied permission to meet Wangchuk. He added that the letter, signed by 55 Opposition MPs, appealed to Wangchuk to call off his hunger strike over concerns about his health.

The Bihar Police on Wednesday (July 22) fired tear gas shells, used water cannon and baton-charged to thwart a ‘Lok Bhavan march’ of student leaders, who were demanding Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation over the NEET paper leak.

The protesters had gathered under the banner of the All India Students' Association (AISA), an affiliate of the CPI(ML) Liberation, and they faced the police action near Gandhi Maidan, about three km away from the Governor's residence.

CPI(ML) Liberation MLA Sandeep Sourav, who is a former AISA national general secretary, was leading the procession. "We are on the streets to bring the Modi government back to its senses. Our demand is that in the wake of the brutal suppression of the Jantar Mantar protests, not only Pradhan, but also Union Home Minister Amit Shah tender his resignation as the Delhi Police had acted upon his instructions," he said.

Two Supreme Court bar bodies condemned the police action on students and lawyers during the July 20 protests in Jantar Mantar and called for an impartial inquiry on the "excessive use of force" and fixing accountability.

The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), headed by its president and senior advocate Vikas Singh, in a resolution, said the police action left several students and members of the legal fraternity, including members of the association, injured.

In a separate statement, the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA), expressed deep concern over "reports and visuals showing the use of force by Delhi Police against students and young protesters who had assembled to peacefully voice their grievances over the integrity of public examinations and the future of the country's youth".

The SCBA resolution, issued by its secretary Pragya Baghel said, "The use of excessive and disproportionate force against peaceful students and members of the Bar is deeply disturbing and wholly unacceptable in a democratic society."

The SCORA, in its resolution, also said, "In a constitutional democracy, peaceful dissent is not an act of defiance but an exercise of the fundamental freedoms guaranteed under Articles 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(b) of the Constitution. While the State is empowered to maintain public order, every restriction on these freedoms must satisfy the constitutional requirements of legality, necessity and proportionality."

Delhi Police has rebutted at least 15 instances of alleged fake news and misleading social media posts since the July 20 protest, while its fact-check teams are analysing hundreds of viral videos and posts to trace their origin and identify those spreading misinformation, police sources said on Wednesday.

The rebuttals included claims that a 12-year-old girl and a woman protester were assaulted by police, that CJP founder Abhijit Dipke had been detained, that a girl had died in a stampede following a police lathicharge, and that police personnel used pellet guns or batons fitted with nails during the clashes.

According to an internal compilation prepared by the police, several claims circulating on social media since Monday were found to be false, misleading, old or shared out of context, prompting the force to issue rebuttals through its official social media handles.

A police source said investigators were also examining a viral audio clip in which the voice of a senior police officer was allegedly altered.

"The original appeal by the officer asking protesters to maintain peace and law and order was manipulated. Pakistan-based handlers allegedly modulated the voice and inserted fabricated audio. The viral clip is completely fake and has already been rebutted," the source said.

Delhi Police is using its network of artificial intelligence-based cameras to identify people allegedly involved in clashes during the CJP protest, with investigators saying those responsible for attacking police personnel would be arrested, sources said on Wednesday.

The AI-enabled surveillance system is being used to analyse footage from the extensive network of CCTV cameras installed across the New Delhi district, a police source said.

"These AI cameras will help police identify those who were involved in clashes with the police, damaging government vehicles and attacking police personnel. Their criminal records will be checked using the police database and they will be arrested," the source said.

The source said people who did not participate in any violence had nothing to worry about.

Appealing to the public to assist the investigation, the source said citizens could share information about those involved in the violence, and their identity will never be disclosed.

So far, 10 FIRs have been registered in connection with the violence, the police said.

According to the breakup shared by the police, four FIRs have been registered at Parliament Street Police Station, three at Connaught Place Police Station, and one each at Mandir Marg, Barakhamba and Kartavya Path police stations, including one FIR by a Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel who was allegedly thrashed by the protesters and a video of the incident went viral on social media platforms.

At one end of Jantar Mantar, protesters raised slogans. At the other, volunteer doctors sat beside ambulances, treating a steady flow of people with swollen limbs, cuts, fever and dehydration before sending them back into the crowd.

Amid chants and speeches from the protest stage, healthcare professionals from Delhi and neighbouring states have been running makeshift medical assistance points, owing to what they described as a sense of duty.

Some moved through the crowd with backpacks stocked with medicines, bandages and oral rehydration salts, while others waited inside ambulances stationed near the protest venue, ready to respond if someone fainted or complained of breathlessness.

The doctors have become a familiar sight around the protest venue, checking blood pressure, cleaning wounds, handing out medicines and distributing ORS sachets to people waiting under tarpaulin sheets or umbrellas.

A protester said the presence of doctors gave many protesters confidence to remain at the site.

As the crowd at Jantar Mantar continues to grow with students, parents and supporters arriving from different parts of the country, volunteer doctors remain on standby, their ambulances and medical kits becoming as much a part of the protest site as the slogans, banners and tents.

Former BJP leader K Annamalai hit out at the Centre over the NEET issue alleging there had been no accountability despite the question papers getting leaked thrice, and claimed it prompted students to hit the streets.

He asked why the saffron party-led Union government took so long to initiate dialogue with protesters.

We the Leaders movement leader said protest is a fundamental right in a democracy and wondered why did the BJP-led Centre take so long to initiate a dialogue with the protesters.

"Why was meaningful engagement delayed until the protest had escalated to a flashpoint. What kept you waiting?" the former president of BJP's Tamil Nadu unit, who is set to launch his own political party, demanded to know.

Mumbai on Wednesday (July 22) witnessed protests at multiple locations in solidarity with the CJP stir against alleged irregularities in exams, leading to the detention of several people and police forcibly evicting senior Congress leaders from a traffic intersection in south Mumbai.

Police stopped senior leaders, including state Congress chief Harshvardhan Sapkal, CLP leader Vijay Wadettiwar, and former state minister Naseem Khan, at the Regal Cinema Chowk when they were headed towards the Maharashtra BJP office in south Mumbai.

They were forcibly evicted and taken to Colaba police station in vans.

The Congress leaders wanted to present the copy of the Constitution of India to BJP leaders. Protesters raised slogans such as 'Modi Hato, Desh Bachao’ during the protest.

During the day, hundreds of people assembled at multiple locations in Mumbai and protested against the alleged NEET paper leak in violation of the prohibitory orders, leading to detention of several protesters.

According to an official, hundreds of protesters gathered at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Garden in Chembur amid heavy police deployment. Police detained several protesters, dragging some of them into police vehicles before taking them to the local police station, eyewitnesses alleged.

Social activist Anna Hazare wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying violence and police action during the students' ongoing protest in Delhi were "deeply distressing", and asserted that "dialogue" was always preferable to confrontation in a democracy.

In the letter, he also said that taking the resignation of a minister would not weaken the government but send a strong message to other ministers about accountability, and will improve governance.

In the letter, he said, "If accountability is fixed and the resignation of a minister is taken, the government will not lose power. Rather, it will send a clear message to other ministers that if they do not discharge the responsibilities of their departments properly, they too will have to relinquish their posts. This will make the functioning of the government more accountable and effective."

Hazare said the reports of violence and police action during the ongoing protest in New Delhi were deeply distressing, and added that violence, damage to public property and excessive use of force should be avoided under all circumstances in a democracy.