Published on: Aug 20, 2026, 16:55:11 IST By HT News Desk Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link The Supreme Court on Wednesday formed a high-powered five-member panel to probe the July 20 NEET protest, led by the Cockroach Janta Party, in New Delhi.
The committee, headed by retired apex court judge, Justice R Subhash Reddy, will probe the allegations of police excesses against protesters.
The CJP's protest march to Parliament on July 20 amid the agitation over NEET paper leak saw lathi-charge and the alleged use of pellet guns. (RAJ K RAJ / Hindustan Times) Besides Justice Reddy, the committee will comprise former Punjab and Haryana high court Chief Justice Ravi Shankar Jha, former Delhi high court Justice Shalinder Kaur, former CBI director Rishi Kumar Shukla and former Meghalaya DGP LR Bishnoi as its members.
Earlier on Tuesday, a top court bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Baghchi and V Mohana said that it would also direct the handing over of video footage and CCTV recordings of the violence during the July 20 protest march to the high-powered probe panel.
The July 20 protest march to Parliament, led by the Cockroach Janta Party, saw clashes between protesters and security personnel, including the Delhi Police and the Rapid Action Force (RAF).
Lathi charge, tear gas shells were used by the forces to disperse the crowds from moving towards the Parliament.
Pellet guns were also allegedly used by the forces.
Delhi Police denies excessive use of force The Supreme Court's probe committee formation comes just two days after the Delhi Police defended its use of force against protesters during the July 20 'Sansad Chalo' protest march.
The Delhi Police told the apex court that it resorted to a "graded" response only after the gathering ceased to remain peaceful, with sections of the crowd breaching layers of barricades and trying to move towards Parliament.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Sachin Sharma said the allegation of excessive force was unsustainable, given the scale of the gathering.
He claimed that about 5,000 police personnel were deployed to manage over 30,000 protesters across a radius of nearly three kilometres.
Additionally, the police said that the confrontation between police and protesters left over 240 cops and uniformed personnel, and around 200 public persons/protesters injured.
In its defence, the police said that use of lathis forms part of permissible crowd-control equipment, adding that they were used only to contain a group of protesters who, according to them, had begun attacking security personnel.
More details to follow.
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