Days after a video of right-wing activist Satyam Pandit assaulting two men who had joined the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protests in Delhi went viral, several more similar clips have surfaced on social media. After the CJP-led protests culminated in Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation on Saturday, multiple videos of protesters facing backlash have emerged.
People supporting the agitation have described the incidents as “punishment for protesting” and raised concerns over intimidation of demonstrators. However, people aligned with the BJP have mocked the protesters online and called for “strict action” against them. Several videos have emerged of protesters being assaulted.
Even as the CJP-led protests gained momentum, some people highlighted that sections of the protesters crossed the line through abusive, vulgar and personal attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP and security personnel. Videos showing such slogans and confrontations circulated on social media and were amplified by pro-government voices as evidence that the movement lacked decorum and had been hijacked.
At the same time, the CJP and its supporters maintained that these clips represented a section of participants who they called “anti-social” elements. They added that these should not overshadow the issue of examination irregularities. However, they backed the youngsters who used cuss words, suggesting that was part of the Gen Z lingo.
Pro-BJP handles had begun circulating videos and images of youngsters who were using abusive language and raising anti-government slogans.
FIND HER, SHE ABUSED PM MODI: X HANDLES GET HUNTING
After the CJP called off its protests following the Centre’s acceptance of its key demand, several social media accounts aligned with or sympathetic to the BJP have put out photos of some women and student protesters, and called for their arrests, tagging police departments in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.
“These girls must be living somewhere, in a building [or a] society, working somewhere or attending any college… Find them… Make their neighbours, colleagues [and] classmates know about their mentality and what they are doing…,” a widely followed handle on X wrote. “Indian Political commentator. Foreign policy. Hindu Rights Activist. Proud Bhartiya. BJP member,” mentions the handle’s bio.
Similarly, another handle shared several videos of women criticising and abusing PM Modi, with captions like, “Find Her… She abused PM Modi… Put her behind bars to teach her a lesson…”
The right to protest is a constitutional right, and violence during a protest should be dealt with strictly. However, identifying offenders and taking legal action is the prerogative of the state and law enforcement agencies. These duties are not the domain of private individuals or groups, regardless of their ideological or political leanings.
PROTESTER THREATENED, FORCED TO APOLOGISE IN HEART OF DELHI
In one such video, a person with a mic is seen confronting and heckling a man, accusing him of saying that he would “turn India into Nepal”.
Sharing the 5 minute, 18-second video shot in New Delhi’s Connaught Place, the spokesperson of the Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Tajinder Bagga, said, “Bhai, India ko Nepal banane wala tha…“, meaning, “Bro, he was trying to turn India into Nepal”. Three “Tears of Joy” smileys accompanied the text.
Commenting on the video, former civil servant Ashish Joshi urged the Delhi Police to “arrest the person holding the microphone”, alleging that he was “harassing and threatening a citizen.” Joshi added that the man was “openly hurling abuses and issuing threats” and appeared to have “no fear of the law.”
Joshi also called for action against Bagga under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), alleging that he had “incited people through social media.”
In the video, a man carrying a microphone, claiming to be a journalist, is seen approaching a group of protesters seated in an open space in New Delhi’s Connaught Place after ensuring the camera is recording. He then grabs one of the men by the neck, while another attempts to walk away, and asks, “Were you saying you would turn India into Nepal?” and “What did you say about Modi?” The man responds that it was his first time speaking in front of a media camera, that he had made those remarks, and that he was later taken to a police station where he was allegedly kept for hours.
As the exchange grows tense, the man with the microphone gestures to others nearby, who soon gather around and begin backing him.
Throughout the confrontation, the protester repeatedly requests, “Remove your hand from my neck” and “At least listen to me.”
The man with the microphone then warns him, saying, “If you speak against the government… if you say such things, we’ll shove a stick up your a**,” adding, “Try abusing Modi again, and we’ll shove a stick up your a**,” before repeatedly demanding, “Apologise… say sorry.” The visibly distressed man eventually apologises, saying, “Sorry.”
Uploading the same video, another handle of the ecosystem said, “Dheere dheere sab line par aa rahe hai“, meaning “Slowly but surely, everyone’s falling in line”.
MAN CHASED, PUNCHED AND KICKED IN CONNAUGHT PLACE
In another video from Connaught Place, the confrontation begins with a man shouting, “Start recording the video” and “Where has the crowd gone?”
Moments later, outside Hilton House, the man walks up to a man, punches and kicks him while hurling abuse.
The victim, who appeared to be alone, is chased by around half a dozen men, who repeatedly hit him with punches and kicks as he runs through the colonnades of Connaught Place. “Who did I even touch?” the man asks before managing to slip away between the white pillars. While the man being attacked crossed an adjoining Starbucks outlet, a person in khaakee, who appeared to be a policemen was also seen in the 32-second clip.
In the comment section, the Indian Youth Congress alleged that “BJP-backed goons” were responding to students’ demands for accountability over paper leaks with “intimidation and violence.” It also urged anyone who had been “threatened, harassed, attacked, served a police notice, or targeted online” over speaking out against paper leaks to report the incidents through a helpline and an online form.
The clip of the protester being attacked on which the IYC commented had been taken off. However, the same video, shared by other handles, is still available on X.
VIDEO SHOWS MAN ASSAULTED, WOMAN HECKLED IN CONNAUGHT PLACE
In another video from Connaught Place, posted by the X handle Saffron King, around 10 men are seen surrounding a man, holding him from behind and repeatedly punching and kicking him. The assault continues until a police personnel intervenes, shouting at the crowd and dispersing it.
In the next sequence, the same man is seen sitting in an autorickshaw with a handkerchief wrapped around his head. Blood appears to be trickling down onto his chest through his unbuttoned shirt, while the police personnel stand nearby as the autorickshaw leaves. The narrator of the video says, “Bhai iska sar phod diya bande ka. Ye cameraman tha” (“They smashed his head. He was a cameraman.”).
The same 48-second video also shows a woman surrounded by a group of men in Connaught Place, many of them recording her on their mobile phones while repeatedly calling her a “cockroach”. Standing in the middle of the crowd, she is heard saying, “Maine kuch bola hai? Aapne video dekhi hai?” (“Did I say anything? Have you seen the video?”), as she attempted to defend herself amid the confrontation.
Another X handle claimed, while CJP protesters “vandalised public property, attacked the police, and abused PM Modi” were “roaming free”, the Delhi Police had instead “taken action against nationalist voices”.
The founder of one such handles wrote on X: “Because Delhi Police cannot file anything against cockroaches, so they have resorted to issuing notices to those who supported Delhi Police.”
These incidents of confrontation and assaults come amid reports of RSS ideologue TG Mohandas saying he would have “ordered security forces to shoot protesters” at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar if he had been in charge of handling the agitation. After his comments triggered controversy, an RSS leader stated that wasn’t the organisation’s official stance.
Now, even as the protests have ended in Delhi and protesters have walked back to their homes, the contest of competing narratives is being fought out on social media and public spaces. Narratives are being amplified through identification, confrontation, intimidation and assault of the protesters. A constitutional democracy governed by the rule of law, accountability for any alleged wrongdoing must come through due process. That’s the state’s job, not that of vigilantes.
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