By Sakshi Dayal
NEW DELHI, Aug 20 (Reuters) – India’s Supreme Court created a panel on Thursday to investigate allegations of police violence and of attacks on security personnel by demonstrators during youth protests that forced the education minister to resign last month.
• The protests were triggered by the leak of question papers for a national medical college entrance exam.
• Demonstrations began in New Delhi and spread to other cities after tens of thousands of people attempting to march on parliament were met with tear gas and baton charges.
• The panel will be headed by a former Supreme Court judge and include two other retired judges and two retired police chiefs, the court said in an order on its website.
• It will address allegations including that female protesters faced “targeted violence, harassment, and molestation” and demonstrators suffered “grievous harm and injury” at the hands of security personnel, the court added.
• The court order came in response to petitions filed by student protesters and activists saying police and paramilitary forces used excessive force and pellet guns.
• Police told the court earlier this week they only used force after protesters “resorted to violence”.
• Police have said anti-social elements “masquerading as aggrieved students” caused “grievous injuries” to security forces.
• The court did not set a deadline for the investigation. It asked the panel to submit an interim report as soon as possible.
• The demonstrations, seen as the worst political crisis of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third term, ended after then-education minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned.
• The government also agreed to exam reforms and compensation for families of students who took their own lives after the leaks.
(Reporting by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by YP Rajesh and Andrew Heavens)
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