‘Like a kidnapping’: How Delhi Police forced Sonam Wangchuk out of Jantar Mantar

A roughly 10-foot barricade had come up overnight at Jantar Mantar, and hundreds of police personnel with several vehicles had taken position at the protest site by 9 am on Saturday – a scene starkly different from the one Newslaundry’s team had witnessed the previous evening. The change followed the early-morning detention and removal of activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike at the site since June 28.Multiple protesters and witnesses alleged that police shoved, beat, and verbally abused those who tried to intervene during the operation. Some alleged being dragged, struck, or having a phone that was recording the incident snatched and smashed by the Delhi Police. The Delhi Police has not responded to these specific allegations of violence.The protest’s demands have also widened since Wangchuk's removal. What began as a call for Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign over repeated examination paper leaks has, in the hours since, seen several protesters at the site demand Prime Minister Narendra Modi's resignation as well.How the removal unfoldedAccording to protesters present at the scene, a group of around 20-25 men in plain clothes arrived around 6.30 am. “We initially thought it might be a matter of a health check-up, so we watched from a distance,” said Vikas Kumar, a protester who witnessed the operation, speaking to Newslaundry. “Then someone there asked them, ‘What are you doing? Why are you doing this?’ They were shoved, beaten, and even verbally abused by the police... The police had formed a human chain – like a wall – preventing us from getting through... They shielded him and took him away just like a kidnapping.”Kumar, who has been on a hunger strike for the last five days, added, “They were even trying to take some AISA members who are also on a hunger strike away from here as well. We ran over here, and as the police team approached, we formed a barricade against them. All the students had risen up by then. They were on the verge of detaining the AISA people who were protesting and on a hunger strike. They intended to clear everyone out.”Multiple people who said they witnessed Wangchuk’s removal from Jantar Mantar alleged that he was wrapped in a bedsheet and carried away within minutes. Indraja Singh, who said she had exchanged greetings with Wangchuk moments before the operation, alleged: “Suddenly – like a vulture swooping in – they just grabbed me and hauled him (Wangchuk) away. When I tried to follow, I was dragged by my hair and struck.” She also alleged that another person recording the incident had her phone snatched and smashed. Her own phone, meanwhile, was lost in the melee, during which her hand was also injured.The Delhi Police did not confirm these specific allegations. Earlier today, the Deputy Commissioner of Police tweeted that Wangchuk was removed on health grounds, citing a Delhi High Court order, and asked remaining protesters to vacate the site. CJP spokesperson Saurav Das disputed this on the ground and later in a tweet: “Nowhere in the High Court’s order does it mention that Sonam ji ought to be forcibly taken away by the Police, wrapped in a white bedsheet like a dead body. It is clear that only if a life threatening condition warrants, based on medical advice, can treatment be given. All of Sonam ji’s vitals were normal until yesterday. No doctor checked up on him at 7 am today when the Police used force to illegally detain him.” Das demanded the police immediately release Wangchuk, allow his family and lawyers to meet him, and clarify whether he had been arrested and on what grounds. He claimed the government was “rattled” by the movement's momentum ahead of the July 20 march.Wangchuk was taken to Safdarjung Hospital, roughly eight kilometres from Jantar Mantar. Just outside the emergency block of the hospital, Newslaundry found a riot control van stationed at the emergency block along with a Rapid Action Force and Delhi Police contingent armed with tear gas launchers, restricting access to media and supporters. In a video message released the day before, Wangchuk had said he intended to continue his fast until July 20. A supporter outside the hospital told Newslaundry: “My only appeal to the Modi government is that they should seek the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan... they simply want to work for the cause of education.”Wangchuk’s family disputes hospital’s account, seeks transferWangchuk’s wife, Gitanjali Angmo, told the media that the High Court order “never mandated hospitalisation,” and only required that his health be monitored at regular intervals. She said doctors were currently “just conducting observations and tests,” and that the family intended to get tests done externally after the hospital cited a potassium level of 2.9 against 4.3 the previous day – a shift she called unlikely over a single day. “We want to cross-check the figures,” she said, adding that no medication was being administered so far but nothing would be given without verification. She said Wangchuk was losing muscle mass, as expected during a fast, but remained alert, and that an ECG conducted that day was normal.In a letter to the Safdarjung Hospital medical superintendent dated July 18, Angmo raised the same potassium discrepancy and said the hospital's “lack of transparency”, including its failure to share test reports digitally or physically despite requests, had “shaken their trust,” and asked that discharge formalities be completed so Wangchuk could be shifted to “a medical centre of our choice.” In a separate letter the same day, she instructed the hospital not to administer any intravenous or oral substance or fluid to Wangchuk without her consent, reiterating that his vitals, including the potassium reading, were normal as of the previous evening. She said the hospital had shared the disputed potassium number only verbally, without accompanying reports, as of 10.45 am on Saturday. On his removal being framed as based on medical advice, Angmo said the decision on where Wangchuk would be treated ultimately rested with the family: “India is not a communist country where the government decides which hospital a patient goes to.”Safdarjung Hospital, in a bulletin issued this afternoon, said it had advised intravenous fluids, but Wangchuk refused all IV fluids, oral rehydration, and other medication, and is being “continuously monitored and counselled.”Medical bulletin issued by Safdarjung HospitalHow the eviction was plannedAccording to The Indian Express, preparations for Wangchuk’s removal from Jantar Mantar began in the wee hours of Saturday morning. New Delhi district police had reportedly assembled at 3 am under the pretext of a security drill, and were then briefed at Mandir Marg police station that Wangchuk was to be removed within “30 seconds.” A phone jammer was reportedly installed shortly before the operation, and only senior officers knew the exact plan in advance.The report said police had studied the group's routine, identified a short window when Dipke stepped away each morning, and timed the operation to that gap. Wangchuk was reportedly moved into a waiting ambulance within two minutes, after which police cleared the site and briefly restrained Dipke. The operation came a day after the Union Home Ministry replaced Delhi Police Commissioner Satish Golchha with Anurag Kumar –  a change The Indian Express reported was linked to the handling of the CJP protest.Protest continues, demands widenDipke began an indefinite hunger strike at the site soon after Wangchuk’s removal. Several protesters told Newslaundry the movement's original demand for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over repeated examination paper leaks had, since Wangchuk’s removal, also seen some at the site demand Prime Minister Modi’s resignation.Hours after Dipke announced his hunger strike, a woman threw ink at him while he was addressing the gathering. According to The Indian Express, her identity and the motive behind the act were not immediately known; she has been detained.Meanwhile, another hunger-striking protester’s health deteriorated and she was taken to hospital, following Wangchuk’s earlier hospitalisation. Despite police loudspeaker announcements urging dispersal, Newslaundry found that the crowd at Jantar Mantar has swelled to three-four times its earlier size, with Pradhan’s resignation still the core demand.Crowds, including some accompanied by school-going children, continued to gather through the morning. CJP leaders reiterated from the stage that a march to Parliament planned for July 20 would go ahead.Opposition reactionCPI(M) leader Brinda Karat, who visited the site, said: “This happened entirely on the orders of Amit Shah, not just the Delhi Police... This is Amit Shah's ‘chronology’ – a chronology aimed at ensuring there is no dissent in the capital or the country. This struggle is not about an individual; it is a clash between the principle of accountability and dictatorship.”Samajwadi Party MP Pushpendra Saroj, who said he entered the site by climbing over barricades after being denied entry, said: “It is truly unfortunate that upon arriving, I learned he had been verbally abused, dragged, and – quite literally – wrapped in a bedsheet like an animal before being shoved into an ambulance... this dictator sent his goons – RSS operatives – to forcibly haul them away.” He said the party had backed the protest since its early days and would continue to raise the issue in Parliament, alongside the wider opposition. The Congress, Trinamool Congress, and Shiv Sena (UBT) also extended support to Wangchuk, demanding the Centre engage with him and remove Pradhan from office.This story was originally published by Newslaundry and has been republished with permission.