A roughly 10-foot barricade had come up overnight at Jantar Mantar, and hundreds of police personnel with several vehicles had taken position at the protest site by 9 am on Saturday – a scene starkly different from the one Newslaundry’s team had witnessed the previous evening. The change followed the early-morning detention and removal of activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike at the site since June 28.

Multiple protesters and witnesses alleged that police shoved, beat, and verbally abused those who tried to intervene during the operation. Some alleged being dragged, struck, or having a phone that was recording the incident snatched and smashed by the Delhi Police. The Delhi Police has not responded to these specific allegations of violence.

The protest’s demands have also widened since Wangchuk's removal. What began as a call for Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign over repeated examination paper leaks has, in the hours since, seen several protesters at the site demand Prime Minister Narendra Modi's resignation as well.

How the removal unfolded

According to protesters present at the scene, a group of around 20-25 men in plain clothes arrived around 6.30 am. “We initially thought it might be a matter of a health check-up, so we watched from a distance,” said Vikas Kumar, a protester who witnessed the operation, speaking to Newslaundry. “Then someone there asked them, ‘What are you doing? Why are you doing this?’ They were shoved, beaten, and even verbally abused by the police... The police had formed a human chain – like a wall – preventing us from getting through... They shielded him and took him away just like a kidnapping.”

Kumar, who has been on a hunger strike for the last five days, added, “They were even trying to take some AISA members who are also on a hunger strike away from here as well. We ran over here, and as the police team approached, we formed a barricade against them. All the students had risen up by then. They were on the verge of detaining the AISA people who were protesting and on a hunger strike. They intended to clear everyone out.”

Multiple people who said they witnessed Wangchuk’s removal from Jantar Mantar alleged that he was wrapped in a bedsheet and carried away within minutes. Indraja Singh, who said she had exchanged greetings with Wangchuk moments before the operation, alleged: “Suddenly – like a........

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