Amnesty International says police in India used excessive force during youth-led protests

Amnesty International notes police in India employed excessive force during youth-led protests.

Key points

• The protests proved to be the biggest challenge that Modi has faced after winning a third term in 2024.
• Delhi Police remarked in a Supreme Court hearing last week they had employed force only after protesters "resorted to violence".
• Amnesty remarked it had additionally verified two instances of a police officer "unlawfully using lethal force against a crowd" in Bihar's Siwan district.
• According to Amnesty, there were "isolated incidents of protesters throwing stones", but that the "heavy-handed response was state-sanctioned violence masked as crowd control".

Amnesty International notes police in India employed excessive force during youth-led protests. AFP Published August 24, 2026 Updated August 24, 2026 10: 20am. Join our Whatsapp Channel. Add Dawn as a trusted source.

Indian police applied excessive force, including electric shock devices and pellet guns, against youth-led protests that forced the education minister to resign last month, Amnesty International stated on Monday.

For context, a report from the rights group clashes with the police account that force was applied only after protesters turned violent, and comes after India's Supreme Court set up a panel on Thursday to investigate violence by both police and demonstrators.

Demonstrations in the capital New Delhi, triggered by the leak of the national medical entrance test, turned violent on July 20 when thousands of protesters attempted to march towards parliament.

Amnesty remarked witness testimony and visual evidence it had verified confirmed the apply of "pellet-firing shotguns, tear gas launchers, grenades, batons and electric shock devices against protesters" in Delhi and the eastern state of Bihar.

Amnesty remarked it had additionally verified two instances of a police officer "unlawfully using lethal force against a crowd" in Bihar's Siwan district. No one was killed.

"The weapons were deployed in a manner that breached international law and standards and domestic policing guidelines, " it continued.

They remarked anti-social elements "masquerading as aggrieved students" caused "grievous injuries" to security forces.

On Friday, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi staged a sit-in outside a Delhi police station with a 19-year-old protester who remarked he was injured by pellets during the July 20 demonstration.

Gandhi demanded a police investigation into the shooting, and officers afterwards registered a case over the complaint.

Led by the online Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), the protests broadened from anger over exam irregularities into a wider movement over unemployment, opportunities for young individuals and what critics describe as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's increasingly authoritarian rule.

Meanwhile, the protests proved to be the biggest challenge that Modi has faced after winning a third term in 2024.

Taken together, the developments around amnesty International says police in India used excessive force during youth point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.