Delhi Police register pellet-gun FIR after Rahul Gandhi’s police station dharna

Union home minister Amit Shah may have avoided the accountability question raised by the Opposition in Parliament over the use of pellet guns against protesting students at Jantar Mantar. But on Friday, 21 August, Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi took the battle to Shah’s own doorstep.

Gandhi, accompanied by 19-year-old pellet-gun victim Sahil Lochab and his mother, reached the Parliament Street police station and demanded an FIR against the security personnel allegedly responsible for firing pellet guns during the 20 July march to Parliament.

Hours after Gandhi staged a dharna inside the police station, Delhi Police registered an FIR on Lochab’s complaint alleging that he suffered pellet injuries during the protest.

The development came after repeated attempts by Lochab and his lawyers to get the police to act on his complaint. The timing of the FIR also gave the Congress a political opening to claim that pressure from Gandhi had forced the police to act.

The episode puts Shah directly in the line of fire. Delhi Police comes under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, headed by Shah.

Gandhi first approached the Mandir Marg police station with Lochab but, after the demand for an FIR was not accepted, moved to the Parliament Street police station. There, he met DCP (Central) Sachin Sharma.

During the standoff, police officials told Gandhi that an FIR had already been registered in connection with the 20 July incident and that the matter was under investigation. Gandhi rejected the explanation, insisting that the Lochab family was seeking an FIR specifically on his complaint against those responsible for the pellet firing.

The distinction is significant. While Delhi Police maintained that cases relating to the broader 20 July violence were already being investigated, the Congress insisted that Lochab’s individual complaint had not resulted in an FIR.

Gandhi subsequently sat on a dharna inside the police station, saying he would not leave until the FIR was registered. He framed the standoff as a fight between "justice vs injustice".

Later, Gandhi’s sister and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra joined him. Senior Congress leaders, including Jairam Ramesh, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Kumari Selja, along with a large number of party workers, gathered at the DCP’s office.

Youth Congress workers meanwhile protested outside the Parliament Street police station, raising slogans and demanding Shah’s resignation as Gandhi continued his protest inside.

Gandhi addressed the media twice within a few hours, holding up pellets recovered from Lochab’s body to underscore the seriousness of his allegations.

"Sahil has lost vision in his eye. There are also pellets near his heart, which cannot be removed. Delhi Police says it did not fire the pellet gun. But if pellets have struck him, someone must have fired them. A crime has taken place here, and we are demanding that an FIR be registered," Gandhi said.

"Delhi Police told us that they have orders from above not to register an FIR. But until an FIR is registered, we are not going to move from here. We just want justice for this family," he said.

Gandhi also directly tagged Shah on X, asking: "Amit Shah ji, why are you so scared of justice?"

Lochab, too, spoke to the media from inside the police station. According to his hospital report, more than 200 pellets are lodged in his body, including three in his eye. He has lost vision in the affected eye, while some pellets are lodged near his heart and cannot be removed.

Gandhi said Lochab’s family was asking for three things: registration of the FIR, a copy of the daily diary report (DDR) and the name of the investigating officer. The demand came after repeated attempts by Lochab and his lawyers to approach Delhi Police failed to produce an FIR.

On 14 August, Lochab, accompanied by his lawyers, submitted a written complaint to Delhi Police alleging that the police neither provided an investigating officer’s number nor acknowledged receipt of the complaint. The matter was pursued again on 17 August through email and telephone, but, according to Lochab, there was still no acknowledgement or investigating officer’s number.

The Congress has used the episode to revive its wider accountability charge against Shah. Gandhi has argued that if Shah authorised the use of pellet guns, he bears direct responsibility; if he did not, he must still be held accountable for failing to control the force under his ministry.

The BJP, meanwhile, has accused Gandhi of "politics of anarchy" and pointed to the broader investigation into the 20 July violence.

The FIR now changes the immediate political equation, but not the larger question Gandhi has sought to put to Shah: who authorised the use of pellet guns against the protesting students, and who is accountable for the injuries caused?