FIR Filed After Rahul Gandhi’s Protest Over Student’s Pellet Injuries

New Delhi, August 21, 2026 The Delhi Police has registered an FIR in the case of 19-year-old student protester Sahil Lochab, who suffered pellet-gun injuries during the July 20 march on Parliament. The development followed a day-long sit-in by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, who accompanied Lochab and his family outside a Delhi police station and demanded that the complaint be registered. Gandhi had warned, "I will sit on dharna outside police station for 30 days or even six months if you don't register an FIR," refusing to leave until the case was formally filed. Police said they collected Lochab’s medical report and other relevant documents before registering the FIR against unknown persons on the basis of his complaint. Reacting to the development, Gandhi said, "This is the first step towards justice. An FIR has been registered. Look at how long it took. It has been a month since the pellets were fired. There are pellets lodged in his (Sahil Lochab's) body, three in his eye. It is clear that injustice has been done to a young person," highlighting the delay since the incident. Gandhi said they reached the police station at around 11:30 am and the FIR was registered nearly seven hours later. "We came here at around 11:30 this morning. He has been going around for a month, and we arrived at around 11:30. Now it is 6:30, almost 7 pm, and only then has the FIR been registered... This is a police station right in the heart of New Delhi, and justice is not being delivered here. Now imagine what happens at a police station in a village or a small town. We have done nothing wrong here. We have only sought justice for an Indian citizen, for his mother and for his father," he said. During the protest, Gandhi also asked Lochab’s mother, "Are you happy now?" Lochab said, "I had faith that if the LoP is here, they will have to file the complaint. You have to keep the faith, you can't be silenced as long as Jannayak like him are there in the country," while speaking to reporters. The Delhi Police had earlier cited the Supreme Court-constituted High-Powered Expert Committee (HPEC), which is examining allegations of excessive and disproportionate use of force by police and paramilitary forces during the student protests, as it declined to register the FIR. With the FIR now filed, the case has formally entered the investigation stage, marking a key development in Lochab’s effort to seek accountability for his injuries.