As police officials refused to register an FIR, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, along with Lochab, sat on a dharna outside the police station. Gandhi remained there, insisting that the FIR be filed.
“We stand for students. We stand for justice. We will not be silent. Dharna at DCP office till FIR is filed,” the Congress posted on X as Gandhi, Lochab and his mother sat on chairs outside the police station. Priyanka Gandhi soon joined the protest and took a seat beside them.
While sitting on dharna, Rahul Gandhi posted on X that “on July 20 the police attacked Sahil, who was peacefully protesting at Jantar Mantar, with a pellet gun”. He said Sahil’s “vision in one eye is now at risk”.
Delhi Police has denied using pellet guns, which can fire dozens of small metal pellets, or birdshot, at a time and cause severe injuries, against student protesters.
Pellet guns, first used in 2010 against protesters in Kashmir, and shock batons are part of the gear of the Rapid Action Force (RAF), the riot-control wing of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which was deployed at Jantar Mantar, the protest site. The CRPF has remained silent on whether they were used during the Delhi protests.
A pellet gun fires cartridges loaded with up to 600 metal or rubber pellets, which disperse widely at speeds of 1,000 feet per second. The standard operating procedure is that the gun should be fired from a minimum distance of 500 feet, with its muzzle always targeted below the waist.
#WATCH | Delhi: At Parliament Street Police Station, Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi says, "Pellet gun was used at Connaught Place on 20th July. AIIMS report clearly says that there are more than 200 shells inside his body and 3 in his eye. He has lost vision in that eye. There are… pic.twitter.com/kH0WGVMuBa
— ANI (@ANI) August 21, 2026
Gandhi and the victim stood before a group of cameras and microphones and held up a small plastic box with a blue cap. Gandhi opened the box, spilled its contents onto his palm and showed them to reporters.
“Ye hai pellets, dekh lijiye inko, achhi tarah se dekh lijiye, ye hain pellets” (These are pellets; take a look at them, look at them closely, these are pellets), Gandhi said.
Gandhi then asked where the pellets had come from before answering himself: “Ye inke shareer se aaye” (These came from his body).
He urged the student to show his injuries. Wearing dark glasses, Lochab rolled up his T-shirt sleeve and displayed the injuries.
“Ye inke yahan lage hain charre. 200 charre inke shareer ke andar hain aur teen charre inki aankh main hai” (These pellets are lodged in his body. There are 200 pellets inside him and three are lodged in his eye), Gandhi said.
Gandhi also displayed reports from Lady Hardinge Medical College and AIIMS, saying they detail that more than 200 pellets are lodged in Sahil Lochab’s body.
“If police did not fire these pellets, then somebody must have fired them, maybe he fired it upon himself, but a crime has happened. We are simply asking for an FIR to be registered. Here are his mother and father; please file an FIR. We are merely seeking justice for this family,” Gandhi said.
BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad accused Rahul Gandhi of doing “politics of anarchy” and said the protest appeared to be an attempt to divert attention from the Vande Mataram row.
“It is very unfortunate that LoP Rahul Gandhi does politics of anarchy. Currently, he is sitting on dharna at Parliament Street Police Station without permission or prior information. The police have informed him that an FIR has already been registered on the incident he is quoting and it is being probed. The SC has formed a high-powered committee to probe into this. Rahul Gandhi, don't you want to respect any law? We suspect and allege that Congress is now stuck due to its stance on the national song Vande Mataram. We condemn what the Rahul Gandhi-led Congress is doing right now,” Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, demanding accountability for what he called the “barbaric assault” on peacefully protesting students and asking whether he approved the use of “lethal force”, including pellet guns, against the youth.
In July, Gandhi had presented 19-year-old Sahil Lochab before the media, alleging that he had been shot with a pellet gun by security personnel during a march on Parliament on July 20, the first day of the Monsoon Session.
The march was part of the Cockraoch Janta Party-led student agitation demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET paper leak.
“You are saying that protesters have been hit by pellet guns. I want to explain when pellet guns were fired. My brother was struck by a pellet gun when he was peacefully protesting with a tricolour in hand,” Gandhi had told reporters with Sahil Lochab by his side.
The confrontation over the alleged pellet gun firing has now become a direct demand for an FIR, with Gandhi continuing his protest outside the Parliament Street Police Station alongside the alleged victim and his family.
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