Police Action on CJP Protests: Supreme Court Moved Over Assault on Lawyer, Midnight Raids on Food Volunteer's Kin

In a dramatic escalation of the legal battle surrounding the police crackdown on student demonstrators, two fresh intervention applications filed before the Supreme Court have alleged severe custodial abuse, physical assault of a practising advocate, and cross-border harassment of protest volunteers.

The filings significantly broaden the scope of the ongoing writ petition before the top court, shifting scrutiny from street-level force to alleged systemic intimidation inside police stations and extrajudicial coercion across state lines.

Midnight Assault at Nizamuddin Station

In a startling petition, Supreme Court Advocate Manik Gupta alleged that police officers physically assaulted and humiliated him when he arrived at the Nizamuddin Police Station on the night of July 23 to render legal assistance to detained students.

Gupta stated he rushed to the station after receiving desperate calls from outstation students who had been picked up near the Nizamuddin roundabout. Upon arrival, the Station House Officer (SHO) allegedly ordered his immediate detention.

According to the filing, an officer dragged Gupta into a room, pulled his neck, and repeatedly slapped and punched him. When Gupta declared his standing as a practising lawyer in Delhi courts and the apex court, officers allegedly hurled verbal abuse and warned they would "teach him a lesson".

The complaint further details how the SHO later threatened to register an FIR against the lawyer and called his father to report that he was "roaming the streets". Gupta was released only after fellow legal practitioners assembled at the station. Following his release, he underwent a medical examination at Lady Hardinge Medical College Hospital, where a Medico-Legal Case (MLC) report corroborated his injuries. He has now urged the top court to mandate the immediate preservation of all police station CCTV footage.

Volunteer Abducted, Relatives Picked Up Across UP

The second application, filed by Junaid Malik — who coordinated food and water logistics during the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) student protests — outlines a chilling account of informal detention and family harassment.

Malik alleged that police personnel intercepted him in Delhi without issuing any summons or legal documentation. He was held inside an unmarked vehicle for five to six hours, subjected to intense interrogation regarding funding for the protest catering, and eventually abandoned on a remote stretch of Dehradun Road.

The petition alleges that the intimidation quickly extended to his relatives in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh:

• Ghaziabad Raid: Local police raided Malik’s family home and detained his father without formal paperwork.
• Relatives Targeted in Meerut: Officers visited his married sister’s house in Meerut, taking her father-in-law and brother-in-law into custody without arrest memos or procedural compliance.

Malik has urged the Supreme Court to intervene immediately to halt coercive police action against his family members.

Supreme Court Prepares to Examine Police Conduct

The apex court, led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, is scheduled to hear these petitions as part of the broader legal challenge against the crackdown on the CJP student demonstrations.

With legal practitioners and human rights groups raising serious alarms over custodial violence and procedural lapses, the top court’s hearing is expected to focus heavily on enforcing officer accountability, securing station logs, and evaluating whether statutory arrest guidelines were violated.