SFI president Adarsh M Saji told Times Now Digital that he and more than 100 students were beaten by Delhi Police as they marched from Connaught Place to Jantar Mantar on Sunday. He described being dragged into a DTC bus, then a prison van covered in black cloth, where detainees were held for up to two hours and some lost consciousness.
Saji said the van was used to conceal the whereabouts of the detainees and that female protesters had their clothes torn. He also alleged that men in civilian clothing carrying lathis, whom he identified as “RSS goons,” attacked the crowd, especially women, and that bystanders filming were also beaten.
Delhi Police posted on social media that the allegations were misleading, but Saji dismisses the statement, insisting the protesters were “peacefully” agitating against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The SFI claims the SIR is a tool to cut votes and that students are being removed from voter lists.
SFI also said that CPI(M) MP John Brittas attended the protest to show solidarity and was assaulted, and that the party’s general secretary spoke to the SFI about the incident. The organisation announced it will extend solidarity to all democratic movements, including the INDIA bloc march to the Supreme Court.
The protest was part of a broader nationwide campaign against SIR, with 7,000 protesters detained in Delhi amid a security clampdown that deployed 30,000 personnel and barricades in Lutyens' Delhi. The SFI plans to spread Jantar‑Mantar‑style protests to every state and campus, declaring it a struggle between democracy and autocracy.
Delhi Police deny the assault claims, while the SFI vows to expand protests nationwide in the coming weeks, setting the stage for potential clashes as security forces tighten controls ahead of the Supreme Court march.