Student protests: Delhi Police affidavit in Supreme Court is rich with numbers, but quiet on fixing accountability
The Delhi Police submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court detailing security measures taken during NEET-UG student protests. However, the report faces criticism for failing to address allegations of police misconduct and sexual harassment against protesters.
Why it matters
It highlights the ongoing tension between state security apparatus and student rights, raising questions about police accountability and judicial oversight in India.
The 42-page Delhi Police affidavit filed in the Supreme Court near midnight on August 17, 2026, is rich in statistics, detailing the number of barricades used to regulate the NEET-UG protestors’ movement to the strength of women police officers deployed.
But the affidavit is quiet about what the police hierarchy has done so far to inquire into and fix accountability for officers who allegedly misbehaved with women students and protestors.
The Supreme Court has assured the petitioners’ counsel, senior advocates Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Shadan Farasat, that it would have the proposed high-powered committee look into allegations of plainclothes police personnel sexually molesting women protestors. Legal action would follow based on the committee’s report, Chief Justice Surya Kant, heading the Bench, said on Tuesday (August 18, 2026).
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