Pellets denied, FIR filed — after a dharna
Rahul Gandhi sat outside Delhi Police’s DCP office for over six hours with a 19-year-old who says pellets ruined his eye. By evening, an FIR — against “unknown persons” — appeared.
An FIR was registered after more than six hours of protest, naming no accused.
Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on 21 August took 19-year-old Sahil Lochab and his mother to Delhi Police and then sat outside the Parliament Street police station — where the New Delhi DCP’s office is — until a case was registered. Gandhi called it the first step toward justice; he ended the dharna after more than six hours. According to a police officer quoted in a report, the FIR cites Sections 118 and 25 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and names no accused.
What is in dispute is everything before the FIR. Gandhi alleged on X that police hit Lochab with a pellet gun during the 20 July Jantar Mantar protest, and Congress says police wouldn’t even acknowledge a written complaint on 14 August or after follow-ups on 17 August. Those are their claims. Delhi Police have earlier denied using pellet or rubber guns; a senior officer said RAF “may have carried” such gear, and an unnamed CRPF official said pellet guns are in RAF’s anti-riot kit — neither is proof of who fired at whom.
Lochab’s complaint, as reported, says a person in blue uniform fired “multiple metallic pellets” and that a CT scan found over 200 pellets embedded, with his right eye at near-zero chance of recovery. The medical records themselves weren’t released in the material reviewed; a July report quoted family and people aware saying AIIMS doctors identified pellet injuries and warned about vision loss. The documents will have to do the talking — not party handles.
Two hard facts, then: a teen with documented injuries who sought an FIR, and an FIR finally registered — against nobody in particular. After a dharna. The BJP-led Centre can save the lectures on law and order until its capital’s police can answer a basic one: who fired what, where.