The march is over. The protest is not. Police cleared the roads to Parliament by evening and dismantled the stage and tents at Jantar Mantar. The protesters simply shifted, regrouping a short distance away near Kerala House. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke – who was also on hunger strike but ended it earlier today – and Gitanjali Angmo, wife of hospitalised activist Sonam Wangchuk, are there as this is filed. Both have given a call to supporters framed in three words: “Now or Never”.
So Delhi closes the day with two records of the same twelve hours and a standoff that has outlasted both. On the central questions – was force used, who escalated, and how many are injured – the accounts do not merely differ in emphasis. They contradict each other.
On whether force was used
Delhi Police posted on X that reports of violence and detentions at Jantar Mantar were inaccurate, that no such incident had taken place, and that the protest was "being handled professionally". A second post appealed to protesters to exercise restraint and cooperate.
Times Now Digital reporters on the ground, however, witnessed a slightly different version. Our reports saw security personnel firing tear gas as protesters marched towards the parliament. One of which fell almost next to our reporter on the ground. Several videos emerged on social media showing injured protesters. The PTI described tear gas shells being lobbed and sticks landing on marchers at three separate points — Parliament Street, Patel Chowk and Rail Bhawan.
The police account also sits awkwardly beside a second police claim: that more than 50 of their personnel were injured. A day that injures 50 officers is not a day without incident.
On who escalated
Both sides have something to answer.
Reuters reporters saw some protesters hurling stones. PTI reported the first major confrontation came when marchers broke through a barricade outside Parliament Street Police Station. Delhi Police had stated before the march that no permission was sought or granted, and that Section 163 of the BNSS is in force across New Delhi district — barring assemblies of five or more people anywhere except Jantar Mantar.
Protesters describe the reverse sequence. Shobha, who marched with her son and daughter, told PTI that police pushed the barricades first and that people were beaten when they stepped forward; she alleged she saw male personnel beating a woman. The CJP had issued written do's and don'ts the previous day, asking marchers to carry the national flag and the Constitution, avoid party flags, and stay peaceful.
In a crowd this size, both can be true. What no account yet establishes is the order of events at any single barricade.
On the injured – and one claim now formally disputed
Delhi Police: over 50 personnel hurt.
CJP spokesperson Saurav Das said on X that 40 to 50 protesters were injured and that a minor suffered a serious head injury. PTI reporters spoke to Sandeep, a student sitting on a pavement with blood running down his forehead, who said he was struck on the head and then dragged away. Another protester, Prakash, said elderly marchers were collapsing.
Delhi Police have since issued a formal fact-check post rejecting a circulating claim that a 12-year-old girl was assaulted and had her hair pulled, along with the 40-50 injury figure, calling the information false. That is now a direct, on-the-record dispute between the force and the movement — and it is checkable. Hospital records will settle it.
On what the government offered
Even the day's single conciliatory moment reads two ways.
CJP national spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka said on X that Health Minister JP Nadda had sought time to discuss the movement's demands within the government. Das, who met Nadda, said he presented the demands, including Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's removal.
Nadda's own X post described a memorandum submitted after verbal discussions, and an appeal to protesters to end their sit-in and help restore normalcy. One side heard a promise to consider. The other described a request to disperse.
The night, and the court
Angmo has moved the Delhi High Court against a single judge's order declining to interfere in Wangchuk's hospitalisation. The court had earlier accepted the Centre's position that it was entitled to intervene since Wangchuk had not voluntarily sought medical care. Dipke and Angmo have both said he is effectively being detained at Safdarjung. Wangchuk, in a handwritten note, said he would end his nearly three-week fast only if the government took responsibility for the exam failures or if marchers reached Parliament and lawmakers pledged to raise the issue in both Houses - Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
Neither condition was met. Both Houses adjourned repeatedly on Monday. The total business hours of both houses were less than 20 minutes. The sit-in near the parliament continues.
What settles this
Three documents, none of them public tonight: the FIRs, hospital admission records at RML and LNJP, and the written order authorising the internet suspension across central Delhi.
Until they are, the plainest formulation is the only safe one. Delhi Police say Monday was handled professionally.
Several media reports say otherwise. Both accounts of Monday are now on the record. The only thing that can reconcile them is a document, and nobody has produced one.
The government did, for the first time, sit down with the movement. Whether it offers anything beyond a hearing is tomorrow's question.
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