Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal held a news conference in Delhi on Monday to question the official police account of violence during the CJP protest.
The challenge to the narrative comes as tensions rise over police conduct during public demonstrations. Sibal is disputing the legitimacy of evidence used by authorities to justify a crackdown on protesters at Jantar Mantar.
Delhi Police reported that protesters threw stones and damaged a van during the event. Sibal said these items were planted to frame the protesters. He said the police narrative of the violence is inaccurate and designed to shift blame away from the security forces.
The crackdown involved the use of tear gas and lathi-charges against those gathered at the site. Following the violence, injured protesters were taken to RML Hospital. Reports indicate that one critical protester was in the intensive care unit [1].
Sibal's press conference focused on the discrepancies between eyewitness accounts and the police reports. He sought to highlight alleged police brutality, and the lack of transparency regarding the injuries sustained by the demonstrators. The protests centered on the Chief Justice of India (CJP) and have seen participants returning to Jantar Mantar despite the previous crackdown.
The situation remains volatile as legal representatives and activists continue to document the injuries and the sequence of events. Sibal's intervention brings political pressure to the investigation into how the police managed the crowd, and whether the evidence of property damage was fabricated.
“Sibal said that the stones and the damaged van were planted to frame protesters”
This confrontation highlights a growing conflict between the Delhi Police and civil rights advocates over the legality of crowd control measures. By alleging that evidence was planted, Sibal is moving the conversation from a simple report of unrest to a question of systemic police fabrication, which could lead to judicial oversight of the police conduct during the CJP protests.
