Several petitions before the Supreme Court have alleged that police authorities in Delhi and Bihar resorted to “illegal and arbitrary detention” of individuals associated with the recent student protests against examination paper leaks, in “grave violation” of their constitutional guarantees.
Taking cognisance of these allegations, the court on Tuesday (July 28, 2026) permitted the police to continue investigating the FIRs registered in relation to the protests, but restrained the authorities from taking any coercive action against “protesting students” unless they had criminal antecedents.
Right to peaceful protest: Is it being strangled by ‘permission raj’? | In Focus Podcast An impleadment application, filed by Junaid Malik, who had volunteered to distribute food and water to protesters gathered at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, was picked up by Delhi Police personnel late on July 24, 2026, while returning from Dr.
Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital after receiving treatment for a dog bite.
According to the application, Mr.
Malik and a friend were intercepted by four or five police personnel travelling in a white Scorpio without a number plate, who allegedly seized their mobile phones, compelled them to unlock the devices and searched their contents.
The application, filed in the ongoing writ petition by Rajya Sabha member Manoj Jha, against police excesses during the protests, further alleged that the two were blindfolded and taken to an undisclosed location, where they were detained overnight and repeatedly questioned by senior police officers about the source of funds used to distribute food and water at the protest site.
Cockroaches spreading their filth, who is birthing them?: Kangana Ranaut on CJP-led protests “It is submitted that the next morning, i.e. on July 25, 2026, at about 11 a.m., a senior police officer questioned the applicant and his friend regarding the source of funds for the distribution of food at the protest site.
The applicant and his friend were abused several times, kept blindfolded and questioned in an intimidating and threatening manner with the apparent object of coercing and pressurising them,” the application, filed through advocate Neha Rathi, states.
According to the application, the two were eventually “abandoned” near the Dehradun-Mussoorie Road, several hours away from Delhi, with their mobile phones returned and instructions not to switch them on for an hour.
In support of the allegation, Mr.
Malik has annexed an Uber receipt recording his journey from Dehradun to his residence in Delhi.
‘No official record’ Mr.
Malik has also alleged that a team of 10 to 12 Delhi Police personnel raided his residence on July 24, 2026, and demanded the bank account details and identity documents of all family members.
He has further claimed that another police team subsequently picked up his sister’s father-in-law and brother-in-law from their residence in Meerut the same day and took them to Masuri police station in Ghaziabad, where they were allegedly detained and questioned before being released later that evening following the intervention of their lawyers.
Ex-Delhi Police personnel seek nod for Jantar Mantar protest over ‘Chalo Sansad’ violence The application further contended that all these actions were carried out without “any paperwork, diary entry, or any other official record” and amounted to a grave violation of the fundamental right to life and personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
“The detention of the family members, particularly when undertaken purportedly to exert pressure upon the applicant, represents an abuse of the coercive powers of the State and strikes at the very core of the constitutional guarantee of personal liberty.
Such conduct cannot be justified as a legitimate exercise of police power and warrants strict judicial scrutiny”, the application states.
‘No memorandum of arrest’ Another writ petition filed by a 22-year-old law student from Bihar has alleged that he was picked up by the police while participating in the protests on July 25, 2026, and remanded in judicial custody at Beur Central Jail in Patna.
The petition claimed that he was never informed of the grounds of his arrest and was produced before the jurisdictional magistrate only after the expiry of the constitutional mandate of 24 hours.
Rajya Sabha MP moves Supreme Court against use of facial recognition technology at NEET protests “He was not informed of the grounds of his apprehension.
He was not shown any warrant.
No memorandum of arrest was prepared in his presence or attested by any witness.
No intimation of his apprehension or of the place of his detention was given to any member of his family,” the petition states.
The petition further alleged that he was subsequently arrayed as accused in an FIR which includes 5,000 “unknown persons”, without attributing any specific overt act to any of them.
On Monday (July 27, 2026), amid reports of detentions of demonstrators, the Bihar government announced that it had decided not to take any “punitive, retaliatory, or adverse legal action” against any person who had participated in the protests in the State prior to 6 p.m. on July 26, 2026.
SC moots independent probe into police excesses, orders release of detained minors The petition contended that despite the government’s decision, the law student continued to remain in judicial custody.
It therefore urged the Supreme Court to intervene, contending that his continued “illegal detention” constituted “the most egregious violation of fundamental rights.” “The arrest of the petitioner and his continued detention are void ab initio for non-communication of the grounds of arrest, in violation of Article 22(1) of the Constitution and Section 47 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023”, the plea states.
At the time of publication, the law student has still not been released from judicial custody.
