THEUNBADGED

First, look at who they sent

This page is named for them. Personnel without name badges, photographed before the protest began; plain-clothes crews carrying lathis. claimed

A name plate is a statutory duty: BNSS s.36(a) and the Supreme Court's D.K. Basu guidelines require visible name identification on officers carrying out detentions. When the names come off before a deployment, the responsibility climbs up the chain of command.

Sources: Newslaundry photo report TV9 Hindi BNSS s.36(a) D.K. Basu (SC, 1997)

Jantar Mantar · day 24 of the sit-in

The story begins here. Students had held this ground for weeks with one demand: the Education Minister's resignation. Their exam, NEET-UG, had leaked. Again. Some aspirants did not survive it. On 18 July, police removed Sonam Wangchuk, twenty days into a hunger strike, and took him to hospital. corroborated

Sources: Daily Pioneer Al Jazeera full timeline

20 July, morning · what the march walked into

The plan was a peaceful march to Parliament. The answer was a fortress: permission denied, prohibitory orders, more than 5,000 police personnel, and the nearest metro stations locked shut: Rajiv Chowk, Janpath, Patel Chowk. corroborated

Sources: Outlook PTI / Deccan Chronicle

Patel Chowk · 3:08 pm

Tear gas and repeated charges into the crowd here, through the afternoon. Protesters describe force that came without warning; police describe bottle-throwing. corroborated

Source: Deccan Chronicle

Parliament Street Police Station

Between 70 and 100+ marchers spent the night in Parliament Street Police Station. Police said those held “were not students”; eyewitnesses watched students and minors being put into the buses. corroborated

Source: PTI / Deccan Chronicle

Sansad Marg · 10:04 am

The lathi-charge on this stretch, short of Parliament. Marchers describe a peaceful column, charged suddenly. Police describe stone-pelting and barricade breaches first. corroborated

Sources: Al Jazeera PTI / Deccan Chronicle

Parliament

One and a half kilometres from Jantar Mantar. Inside, the Monsoon Session was sitting; the Opposition raised the lathi-charge on the floor by early afternoon. Ruling-party MPs shouted the discussion down, and the Speaker adjourned the House. claimed

The march never reached this building.

Source: ThePrint live blog

By nightfall, the cost of a peaceful march

Sources: IANS timeline contradictions dossier

By evening · they cut the signal

Phones went dark. Mobile internet cut across central Delhi, reported radii of 1.5 to 5 km around the protest, under orders no one has ever published. The law since Anuradha Bhasin (2020): suspension orders must be published and reviewed. corroborated

Inside the House, a Congress MP alleged signal jammers kept even Parliament from learning what was happening outside its gates. claimed A blackout does not erase footage. It only delays it.

Sources: IFF via The Wire SFLC.in PTI (MP Renuka Chowdhury) Anuradha Bhasin (SC, 2020)

The morning after · the court looked away

The next day, the Supreme Court refused to hear the students urgently and would not watch the footage: it did not have the time, the bench said. The Delhi High Court at least asked the Centre and the police to answer. corroborated

When the highest court will not look, the looking falls to everyone who kept a copy.

Sources: LiveLaw The Quint The Pioneer