SC judge calls police assault on protesters distressing

Supreme Court judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan on Friday called reports of police assaulting protesters at Jantar Mantar "very, very distressing to observe" and a matter of "grave concern".

He was speaking at the launch of Policing the Republic, a book by former secretary (security) Yashovardhan Azad, at Viceroy Hall in New Delhi. The New Indian Express and The Daily Pioneer reported the remarks.

"All of us are dismayed when we see young officers of the Indian Police Service personally going and assaulting protesters and demonstrators," Bhuyan said. He added that the detachment expected of police officers "somehow seems to be disappearing".

The comments come amid scrutiny of how Delhi Police handled recent student and other protests at Jantar Mantar, including demonstrations tied to the alleged NEET paper leak. Bhuyan did not name any individual officer or case. He also said effective policing can be done without excessive force or human rights violations.

Congress MP P. Chidambaram and former Maharashtra DGP D. Sivanandhan were among those at the launch, according to The Daily Pioneer.

A sitting Supreme Court judge putting this on the record matters because the fight over protest space in Delhi has been running for months, and the Court has already been drawn into related rows over campus speech and enrolment threats.

Bhuyan is not deciding a petition here. He is describing what he says many people can see: officers who should hold a professional distance instead joining the physical clash. That is a different kind of warning from a procedural order.

Watch whether the remarks stay as a book-launch comment or feed into fresh petitions and oversight questions about Jantar Mantar policing. The book itself, and how other speakers frame Manipur and protest rights in the same volume, will keep the debate on police conduct in public view.