Amnesty alleges excessive police force during India protest crackdown in Delhi and Bihar

Amnesty International has accused Indian police of using excessive force against youth-led protesters in Delhi and Bihar after demonstrations over a leaked national medical entrance test escalated in July. The rights group said it verified the use of pellet-firing shotguns, tear gas launchers, grenades, batons and electric shock devices during the unrest. It also said police unlawfully used lethal force in two instances in Bihar's Siwan district, although no one was killed.

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The report, published on Monday, said the findings were based on witness testimony and visual evidence. It directly challenged the police account that force was used only after protesters turned violent. Delhi Police told a Supreme Court hearing last week that officers acted only after demonstrators resorted to violence, and said anti-social elements posing as aggrieved students caused serious injuries to security personnel.

The protests began in New Delhi after the leak of the national medical entrance test and turned violent on 20 July when thousands of people tried to march towards parliament. Amnesty said there were isolated incidents of stone-throwing by protesters, but argued that the response from the authorities amounted to state-sanctioned violence disguised as crowd control. The group said the weapons used breached international law, policing standards and domestic guidelines.

The allegations come at a sensitive moment for India, where the protests have already forced the education minister to resign and have become part of a wider debate about unemployment, opportunities for young people and the government's handling of dissent. The unrest has also drawn attention because it spread beyond the capital to Bihar, showing how a dispute over exam irregularities developed into a broader political challenge. Amnesty said the demonstrations were among the biggest tests faced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after he won a third term in 2024.

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India's Supreme Court has already set up a panel to investigate violence by both police and demonstrators, adding a judicial track to the political and rights dispute. On Friday, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi staged a sit-in outside a Delhi police station with a 19-year-old protester who said he had been injured by pellets during the July demonstration. Gandhi demanded a police investigation into the shooting, and officers later registered a case over the complaint.

What remains unclear is whether the court-appointed panel will lead to any disciplinary action or changes in policing practice. It is also not yet clear how far the investigation will go into the use of force in Delhi and Bihar, or whether further complaints from protesters will follow. The case is likely to remain under scrutiny as the legal and political response develops.

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