Prateek Tanmay
3 min readGurgaonJul 29, 2026 03:35 AM IST
A 32-year-old woman, who sustained a severe ear injury on July 20 during the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) Sansad Chalo march, has alleged that security forces fired at peaceful demonstrators demanding educational reforms to tackle the issue of paper leaks.
Nootan Toppo, who works with a private firm in Gurgaon, joined the demonstration with two friends. “Why were we hit when we were peacefully protesting?” she asked as she recovers at her home in Jharkhand’s Ranchi.
According to Toppo, security personnel — including members of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) and men in plain clothes carrying sticks, initiated an unprovoked lathi-charge on the crowd. “Several uniformed personnel were not wearing badges and men in civilian dress used abusive language against protesters. I had just taken a selfie moments before the firing started,” she claimed as she spoke to the Indian Express on Tuesday.
During the action, Toppo said, she was hit on her right ear, resulting in heavy bleeding. Protesters provided emergency first aid at the scene using a stole before the two friends she had come with took her to Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital in Delhi. Medical records and the medico-legal report (MLC) noted a “swelling of ear lobe” and recorded a “suspected gunshot injury,” she said. Toppo said that the injury is similar to a rubber bullet injury, according to medical reports, a claim that could not be independently verified by The Indian Express.
Toppo underwent a reconstructive plastic surgery lasting nearly two hours that also involved stitches. She claims that she continues to experience hearing impairment and a bout of recurring fever.
Earlier reports by The Indian Express revealed that an internal inquiry by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) established that a Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel deployed in the nearby Connaught Place area in Delhi had fired seven rounds from a pellet gun during the crackdown.
The CRPF probe found that five of those rounds directly struck protesters, while two hit the ground. The officer involved reportedly claimed the action was taken in self-defence after a section of the crowd engaged in stone-pelting. The force has since examined log entries and video footage to determine whether standard operating procedures regarding crowd control were violated.
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The CRPF’s findings stand in contrast to public statements issued by the Delhi Police, which maintained that the force neither possessed nor used pellet guns during the operation.
However, medical evaluations reviewed across multiple city hospitals documented similar injuries, including a 28-year-old sports journalist who had more than 30 pellets lodged in his body, as well as a 19-year-old student who suffered facial injuries.
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