A fact-finding AISA-CPI(ML)-RYA delegation led by AISA All India President Neha visited Bihar on July 27 to investigate the police crackdown on the ongoing movement against paper leaks and to meet students, youth activists and movement leaders who were arrested or injured during the protests. The delegation documented widespread police brutality, illegal arrests and indiscriminate repression, reiterating the demand for the unconditional release of all those detained.
The delegation comprised CPI(ML) MLA Arun Singh, CPI(ML) Central Committee Member Kumar Parvez, AISA-CPI(ML) General Secretary Prasenjeet, RYA National President Ajit Kushwaha, and RYA Bihar State Secretary Shiv Prakash Ranjan, along with AISA-CPI(ML) All India President Neha.
During the visit, the delegation met the arrested movement leaders lodged in Beur Jail, including CPI(ML) MLA Sandeep Saurabh, former JNUSU President and CPI(ML) leader Dhananjay, AISA Bihar State Secretary Dipankar Mishra, AISA Patna University President Saba Afreen, and CPI(ML) Media Cell member Divyam, along with RYA leaders Vishal Yadav, Pawan Kushwaha, Arun Kumar, Vishwakarma Kushwaha and several other student and youth activists arrested during the protests.
During the visit, the delegation also submitted a memorandum to Bihar Director General of Police Vinay Kumar. He informed the delegation that more than 600 people had been arrested in connection with the protests. While 355 had been released, over 300 protesters continue to remain behind bars.
The delegation noted that Bihar had witnessed an unprecedented level of state repression, with the police using pistols and even AK-47 rifles during operations against protesters, marking a dangerous escalation in the criminalisation of democratic dissent.
The delegation also visited Medanta Hospital in Patna to meet students injured in the Siwan police firing. One student had suffered a severe shoulder injury, while another sustained grievous injuries and will require a rod to be implanted in his left leg to regain mobility. Condemning the police firing as a brutal attack on democratic rights and the constitutional right to protest, the delegation demanded strict action against those responsible, adequate compensation for all those injured, and the best possible medical treatment for the victims.
The findings from Bihar formed an important part of AISA-CPI(ML)'s nationwide fact-finding exercise covering Delhi, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and other states where protesters have faced severe police repression.
Delhi Press Conference
Presenting the findings at a press conference held at the Press Club of India on July 28, AISA All India President Neha and Delhi University Secretary Anjali detailed the pattern of coordinated attacks on the movement across the country.
The report highlighted that in Delhi, the police response has been marked by profiling and targeting of vulnerable communities. In Jamia Nagar, residents have reportedly received notices based on facial recognition and retina scanning for their presence at the Jantar Mantar protest. AISA has initiated legal assistance for those affected. The delegation also met Prashant and Irshad, victims of pellet gun use by the Delhi Police. Irshad faces the risk of permanent blindness, while Prashant's arms and torso were riddled with pellet injuries. The report raised serious questions over who authorised the use of pellet guns against students, who deployed men in civil clothes to assault protesters on July 20, and why hundreds of RAF personnel were stationed at RML Hospital when injured students arrived to register medico-legal cases.
The report also highlighted continuing repression in West Bengal. More than 70 people were named in the FIR, in addition to those already arrested.
The press conference sharply criticised the Union Government's recently announced examination reform measures, describing them as "a band-aid for a heart attack". AISA pointed out that the proposed Special Task Force is overwhelmingly composed of bureaucrats and security officials with little expertise in education, exposing the government's unwillingness to address the real structural crisis.
The organisation argued that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the National Testing Agency (NTA) have centralised and commercialised the examination system, concentrating enormous powers in an unaccountable agency functioning through outsourced private firms. This model, it said, has created fertile ground for paper leaks, corruption and criminal networks operating under state patronage.
There is a repeated attempt by the Modi government to evade accountability. From reshuffling NTA officials after the 2024 examination crisis to removing the CBSE Chairperson in 2026, the government has consistently sacrificed individuals while shielding those responsible for policy failures. Fast-track courts, the report argued, would merely prosecute lower-level operatives while allowing the larger nexus of state functionaries and brokers to escape scrutiny.
AISA President Neha also expressed serious concern over the Supreme Court's July 28 order constituting a Special Investigation Team into the Delhi violence while directing the release of persons without "criminal antecedents". The organisation questioned the basis of such a distinction, pointing out that many student and youth leaders routinely face politically motivated cases for participating in democratic struggles. Treating such cases as grounds for continued imprisonment, it said, legitimises political repression and undermines democratic rights.
The press conference concluded with a call to intensify the nationwide movement until every detained protester is released. AISA-CPI(ML) reiterated its demands for the unconditional release of all protesters; accountability of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the state Home Departments for the use of pellets, pistols and AK-47 rifles against students; compensation for all victims of police brutality; the scrapping of the National Testing Agency; and the repeal of the National Education Policy 2020.
Declaring that the struggle will continue, AISA-CPI(ML) affirmed that the fight against paper leaks, police repression and the commercialisation of education is inseparable from the broader struggle to defend democratic rights, public education and the constitutional right to protest.
Withdrawal of Cases
As of July 28, Bihar, Assam and, later, West Bengal issued orders regarding the withdrawal of cases and an end to punitive measures against NEET protesters as per the Jantar Mantar Agreement reached between the Union government and the student movement. The West Bengal order altered the Jantar Mantar promise by including the rider that the amnesty would not apply to protesters with prior criminal antecedents, with no clarity on the process or details.
While several people were released on bail in West Bengal and Assam, the Bihar government has not yet released CPI(ML), AISA and RYA leaders who were arrested during the movement.
CPI(ML) and AISA vowed to intensify the struggle until every last arrested and detained protester is freed, all FIRs are withdrawn unconditionally, and the Union Government fully implements the Jantar Mantar Agreement in both letter and spirit.
