July 20 Clashes: "Sansad Chalo" March Met With Multi-Tier Barricades, Lathi-Charge, and Tear Gas at Jantar Mantar

High Tension in New Delhi as Student March Advances Towards Parliament

On Monday, July 20, 2026, the long-anticipated "Sansad Chalo" (March to Parliament) organized by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and nationwide student alliances reached a dramatic escalation in New Delhi.

Beginning early at 9:00 AM, thousands of student aspirants, youth delegates, and civil society members assembled at Jantar Mantar. Draped in black headbands and carrying blocky woodcut banners demanding the abolition of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the crowd grew to over 8,000 demonstrators by noon.

Multi-Tier Police Barricading and Confrontation

As the procession moved out of Jantar Mantar toward Parliament Street and Patel Chowk around 12:30 PM, they encountered multi-layered steel barricades, armed riot police, and water cannon vehicles deployed by Delhi Police and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF). Section 144 had been promulgated across the New Delhi administrative zone.

When frontline student leaders attempted to climb over barricades at Patel Chowk to push forward, security forces responded with burst firing of tear gas canisters and heavy lathi-charges.

Casualties and Medical Emergency Responders

• Injuries: Over 100 individuals, including at least 65 student protesters and 35 police personnel, sustained injuries ranging from lacerations and contusions to tear gas asphyxiation.
• Medical Tents: Volunteer medical teams from CJP and Delhi University medical students set up emergency first-aid stations at Jantar Mantar, treating hit-and-run casualties on makeshift stretchers.
• Ambulance Access: Protesters created human corridors to allow ambulances carrying seriously injured students to reach Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) and Sucheta Kriplani Hospitals.

Despite the violent dispersal, core groups of demonstrators regrouped at Jantar Mantar by late afternoon, vowing that police force would not extinguish their democratic demand for exam transparency.