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ON 20 JULY 2026, Shaikh Irshad Mansoori was with a group of protesters at Delhi’s Connaught Place. In front of a giant charkha, the group was raising slogans against the government. Mansoori told me that he was part of the protest called by the Cockroach Janata Party, a collective that had initiated a march to parliament demanding, among other things, the resignation of the union education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan. The massive crowd was conducting its affairs peacefully and in pursuit of its primary objective—demanding Pradhan’s resignation.
At around 5 pm, Mansoori said that an officer in a blue uniform, standing around fifty meters away, aimed at his face with a gun and shot him. “Its particles, its pellets, its pieces penetrated all over my face,” he said, adding that it also struck him in his neck and shoulders. “And suddenly there I was bleeding a lot from my face, my shoulders and my neck,” he said. The Rapid Action Force, which comes under the Central Reserve Police Force, and which was deployed that day, dons a blue uniform.
The 25-year-old from Madhya Pradesh stood there in a state of shock. People nearby helped him. “They placed some cloth on my face, and they suddenly stopped a vehicle, like a bike, so that they could take me to the emergency ward,” Mansoori said. They took him to Lady Hardinge Medical College, where he is currently being treated for his injuries.
Hundreds of security personnel, including the Delhi Police, as well as the Rapid Action Force, which comes under the Central Reserve Police Force, were deployed in the area that day. The RAF dons a blue uniform. Through that day, the Delhi Police had brutally cracked down on the crowds of thousands who had gathered to march to the parliament. Dozens of protestors told The Caravan that the police lathi-charged students and lobbed tear gas shells at them, even though the march was peaceful. The government had shut down internet services in the area, leaving the protestors unable to communicate or reach out for help. But videos of police brutality soon began circulating widely, with many protesters filming as the police attacked or beat them. According to media reports, around eighty protesters were injured and had to be admitted for treatment in hospitals across the city.
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