They came with placards. The police came with batons. As thousands of students marched on Parliament over the NEET exam scandal, Delhi Police answered with lathis, tear gas and steel barricades at Jantar Mantar and the forces in cities across India.
The images are raw: batons mid-swing, tents torn down, faces caught in gas. Delhi Police’s senior cop Sandeep Lamba was caught on camera hitting a woman protester. Another cop was found assaulting women with stick on camera. This isn’t control, this is crackdown.
The violence is real and unacceptable from either side. But the police are trained to handle crowds — the students who were assaulted are not criminals.