Hours after Dharmendra Pradhan, education minister in the Narendra Modi government, stepped down on July 25 under pressure from massive Gen Z protests in New Delhi and other Indian cities, Rahul Gandhi, Congress Party leader and leader of the opposition in the lower house of parliament, sent a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking accountability for the “barbaric assault on students who were peacefully protesting in Delhi on July 20, 2026.“

Gandhi was referring to the Narendra Modi government’s use of brutal force against unarmed students marching toward the parliament building in New Delhi on July 20.

The leak of question papers for medical entrance exams held nationwide on May 3 triggered a tidal wave of anger and anguish among students across India. Gandhi and the Congress party began holding rallies in various towns and cities demanding accountability from the Modi government.

Then came the protests led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) from June 6 at Jantar Mantar calling for Pradhan’s resignation. Several went on hunger strikes. The CJP called for a march to parliament on July 20.

As thousands began to march peacefully that day, the Modi government revealed its iron fist in the heart of New Delhi, the Indian capital.

Multiple video clips reveal that Delhi Police and the Rapid Action Force (RAF), a specialized unit of the Central Reserve Police Force, rained batons and fired pellet guns and tear gas on student protesters. In one video, a senior identifiable police officer can be seen slapping a woman student standing nearby. Another video shows a woman being stunned by a shock baton. Protesters have also alleged they were beaten with batons fitted with nails.

At least four people, including a journalist who was covering the protests, have been identified so far with severe pellet injuries. Journalist Vijaita Singh, who accessed the general diary entry by the RAF at 1.24 a.m. on July 20, reported in The Hindu that the RAF’s Deputy Commandant “on the orders of the DCP [Deputy Commissioner of Police]” “fired 55 rounds of non- electrical shell, 15 rounds of electrical shell, five tear smoke granite, two rounds using ballistic cartridges with plastic pellets from an anti-riot gun.”

Incidentally, Delhi Police had denied the use of pellet guns against the students, dismissing reports as “completely false and misleading.”

Importantly, some of those who had wielded batons so freely on protesting students were not in uniform and wore no visible identification. Who were they? RAF personnel who could unleash violence unafraid of being identified? Or supporters of the government?

“As Home Minister, did you approve the use of lethal force, including pellet guns, against students? If not, who did?” Gandhi asked in his letter. “Are the people in plain clothes seen beating students with lathis [batons] police personnel or volunteers? Who authorized their deployment?”

Delhi Police and the RAF fall under the direct jurisdiction of the Union Home Ministry, which Shah heads.

Gandhi’s open letter to the home minister has upped the ante. While the CJP demanded the removal of the education minister, Gandhi and the Congress party are aiming higher — at the home minister himself. They are seeking accountability for the role India’s most powerful minister after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, played in the July 20 violence.

So far, Shah has remained silent on the allegations of the excessive use of force. This is a tacit endorsement of the brutality that was unleashed on students on July 20.

As Rishav Sharma, advocate in the Delhi High Court, pointed out, “Accountability does not end with the constable on the front line; it travels bottom up through the chain of command to those who shape the conditions under which unlawful force becomes possible.“

The buck stops with Shah.