NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi on Thursday demanded an independent Supreme Court-monitored high-powered committee to investigate the alleged police excesses against students protesting the perpetual paper leaks on July 20. “Students deserve justice. An independent SC monitored high powered committee must be constituted to probe brutalities against our students,” Rahul said in a post on X while sharing a video claiming police brutality during the protest. The remarks came after Rahul had earlier accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of being responsible for the police’s alleged excesses against protesters, including the reported firing incident. Rahul demanded the removal of Union home minister Amit Shah and called for a Supreme Court-monitored investigation into the alleged use of “lethal force” against student protesters, escalating the Opposition’s attack on the government over the police crackdown.Addressing the Lok Sabha, Rahul alleged that Shah either directly authorised the use of pellet guns, shock batons, lathicharge and tear gas against students, making him “culpable of brutalisation” of young protesters, or was unaware of the police action, which, he said, made him “incompetent.”“In either case, he has to go,” Rahul said, urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remove the senior minister from the Cabinet.The allegations triggered strong protests from the treasury benches, with Union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju demanding that Gandhi either substantiate his claims with evidence or apologise.Rahul Gandhi also blamed RSS for what he described as the problems afflicting the education sector.The government strongly objected to his remarks, with treasury bench members demanding that he either substantiate his allegations or apologise. They said Rahul Gandhi should not be allowed to continue his speech unless he provided evidence or expressed regret for the claims.
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“You cannot level a charge to grab a headline and get away with it without providing proof,” Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said.Union minister Jitendra Singh also said that orders for police firing are issued by a magistrate. Defending the Delhi Police, he said the force had exercised “utmost restraint” while handling the protesters’ march on July 20, marking the first such defence by a senior government functionary.
