Lochab, a resident of Najafgarh in South West Delhi, participated in the Cockroach Janta Party-led demonstration at Jantar Mantar and the ‘Sansad Chalo’ march to protest the paper leak in a Delhi Police examination held in 2025.
In the FIR registered after Rahul Gandhi’s daylong dharna at a police station in New Delhi on Friday, 19-year-old Sahil Lochab has alleged that a “person in a blue uniform holding a large gun” fired pellets at him during the youth march towards Parliament on July 20.
FIR was registered after Rahul Gandhi accompanied Sahil Lochab’s to Parliament Street police station and held a sit-in.
“My only ‘fault’ was that, as a student, I was simply present at the scene; in return, I lost my eye and sustained multiple pellet injuries across my body. I have lost the opportunity to secure the Delhi Police job I had been studying for, and my education has come to a halt. “In the afternoon, a lathi-charge occurred, causing a stampede. “As I moved towards the front of the crowd, holding the Indian flag, thousands of students were present. At that moment, I felt a sudden impact on the right side of my body. Upon looking, I saw a person in a blue uniform holding a large gun, from which multiple metal pellets were fired at me. The accused persons remain to be identified, as per the FIR . Leader of the Opposition (Lok Sabha) Rahul Gandhi also underlined his medical condition during the dharna outside the police station seeking an FIR.
I ran along with the crowd of other youths and reached the area near Palika [Bazaar],” he said, describing July 20 in his statement for the FIR lodged at the Parliament Street police station . Blue uniform is usually worn by the Rapid Action Force (RAF), a specialised riot-control wing of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which was deployed alongside the Delhi Police on the march route on July 20. The police invoked Sections 118(1) and 125 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita (BNS), which carry a maximum jail sentence of three years each, depending on the severity of the injury caused.
I was struck by pellets, and a crowd of students gathered around me,” he said. My family’s financial situation does not allow for prolonged medical treatment,” he said.
