Police Register FIR After Student Injured by Pellets Near Palika Bazaar

An FIR has been registered at the Parliament Street police station after 19-year-old student Sahil Lochab suffered severe pellet injuries near Palika Bazaar in Connaught Place during a protest march on July 20. The case was registered following a daylong dharna led by Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, at the police station in New Delhi.

The FIR invokes Sections 118(1) and 125 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita against unidentified accused. These sections carry a maximum jail term of three years each, depending on the severity of the injury caused.

Lochab, a resident of Najafgarh in South West Delhi and a student of Delhi University's School of Open Learning, had participated in a demonstration at Jantar Mantar and the 'Sansad Chalo' march to protest a paper leak in a 2025 Delhi Police examination.

According to his statement in the FIR, a lathi-charge caused a stampede in the afternoon, prompting him to run with other youths toward the area near Palika Bazaar. Lochab stated that as he moved toward the front of the crowd holding an Indian flag, he saw a person in a blue uniform holding a large gun fire multiple metal pellets at him.

Lochab was initially transported on a motorcycle to Lady Hardinge Hospital, then referred to Safdarjung Hospital, and subsequently admitted to AIIMS. Medical records from AIIMS and a CT scan revealed more than 200 pellets lodged across his body, including in his eye, neck, jaw, arm, and chest near his heart.

Doctors performed surgery on his eye on July 22 and noted in the Medico-Legal Case report that the chances of regaining vision in his right eye are less than one per cent. Due to their location near the optic nerve and heart, several pellets cannot be surgically removed.

Lochab has requested authorities to secure CCTV and drone footage from July 20 across Jantar Mantar, Sansad Marg, Connaught Place, and surrounding areas, while seeking compensation and long-term medical treatment.