Indian student protesters resume sit-in after police crackdown

Student-led protesters in New Delhi vowed to continue their sit-in Tuesday after police used tear gas and batons to disperse thousands of demonstrators who marched toward India’s Parliament demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Hundreds of supporters of the youth-led Cockroach movement remained at Jantar Mantar, a designated protest site in the capital, under heavy police presence. The movement, which began as a satirical protest and has grown into a nationwide campaign over exam leaks, unemployment and government accountability, is calling for Pradhan to step down over alleged failures in India’s examination system.

“We are going to continue our protest,” said Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janta Party, which emerged two months ago.

The confrontation Monday left visible damage across central New Delhi, including overturned barricades, broken glass and blood spots, Al Jazeera reported. Protesters had reached near Parliament before retreating as police fired tear gas. Delhi Police said nearly 180 people were injured, including 118 security personnel and 60 protesters. Al Jazeera reported that more than 100 students were injured.

“This government, whom our elders voted to power, is treating us like terrorists and criminals,” said Anshul Dev, an 18-year-old protester. “This is our country, and we are reclaiming it from their hateful politics. We are here to break the spell.”

Anger among students has built over the past two months after a string of compromised entrance exams affected millions of students, Al Jazeera reported. Some exam papers were leaked, and in other cases students who requested copies of their answer scripts found they had been wrongly graded. Al Jazeera also reported that more than 20 students died by suicide, many citing paper leaks.

The movement gained momentum after police forcibly removed prominent activist Sonam Wangchuk from the protest site and took him to a government-run hospital. Wangchuk, 59, had been on a hunger strike for three weeks and has become a symbol of the protests. His family and the Cockroach Janta Party have called his hospital stay “illegal detention,” Al Jazeera reported, while the Delhi High Court has refused immediate relief. Wangchuk broke his hunger strike before Monday’s march but later said he would resume it after “seeing the brutality” against “peacefully protesting students.”

Videos of police beating and dragging protesters spread widely on social media, drawing outrage. Footage showed young demonstrators crying and pleading with officers not to hit them while others stood their ground.

Sona Bisht, a 20-year-old student who joined the protest, said the crackdown deepened her commitment. “If the government thinks that doing this with Gen Z, they can stop us, then that won’t happen. We are here talking about education, talking about securing our future. And till the time our demands are not met, we will not move from here,” she said.

The government made an apparent move to engage with protest leaders Monday after nearly a month of silence. Cockroach Janta Party representatives met Health Minister JP Nadda to present demands including Pradhan’s resignation, Wangchuk’s discharge and compensation for families of students who died by suicide. Al Jazeera reported the requested compensation was nearly $105,000 per family.

Ashutosh Ranka, a party spokesperson, called the meeting “a waste of our time,” saying representatives waited four hours and met the minister for 10 minutes. Nadda said the meeting took place “in a cordial atmosphere” and that he “requested all the protesters to end their sit-in and assist the administration in restoring normalcy.”

Delhi police have filed at least five criminal cases against protesters related to violence, stone-throwing and vandalism during the march, Al Jazeera reported.

Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and dozens of Congress lawmakers staged a sit-in outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence Tuesday. Gandhi wrote on X that they were there to “demand answers from him for the brutalities against young students yesterday.”

Rights group Amnesty International said late Monday that the police action showed “how peaceful dissent is being suppressed in India,” and noted that the right to peaceful assembly is recognized under the Indian constitution.

More people joined the sit-in Tuesday. “I have nothing to do with this protest,” said Rabina Kashyap, a 26-year-old working professional. “But this is India, this is my country, and these are my people. So I will stand by them.”