Published below is an open letter to the police and security forces who were at the Jantar Mantar on Jul 20, 2026 and brutally attacked protesters, has been written in 16 languages by over 1800 concerned citizens across the country including students, teachers, parents of students, artists, social workers, homemakers, doctors, engineers, lawyers, software professionals, activists, traders, journalists and others. The signatories include Ratna Pathak Shah, Naseeruddin Shah, Kavitha Lankesh, Shabnam Hashmi, Vanita Mukherjee, Radha Kumar, Aditya Nigam, Jayati Ghosh, J Devika, Anuradha Kapoor, Devashish Makhija, Mohan Rao, Keval Arora, Meera Sanghamitra, Flavia Agnes, Sudha Bharadwaj, Shuddhabrata Sengupta, Nisha Abdulla, Sumantra Ghosal, Nimi Ravindran, Cynthia Stephen, Sudha N, Kirtana Kumar, Devashish Makhija, Anita Cheria, Laxmi Murthy, Nisha Gulur, Bela Bhatia, Pankaj Rishi Kumar, Madhu Bhushan, Irawati Karnik, Arundhati Ghosh and so many others across various professions. The signatories condemn the police for violently attacking the peaceful student protesters urging them to recognize that the demand of the protesters seeking fair and corruption-free education impacts the lives of the children of the police as well. It calls on the police to refuse unethical orders, citing historical and global examples of security forces who chose conscience over command. Finally, it appeals to the officers’ humanity and shared struggles, asking them to protect citizens’ rights rather than serve as tools of state repression.

Open Letter from Concerned Citizens to the Police and Security Forces at Jantar Mantar, Delhi on July 20, 2026

Letters should start with a ‘dear’. But how can we write that for you after having witnessed the videos of your brutal attack on the student protesters at Jantar Mantar? As we watched the bones shatter, the skin rupture, the blood ooze and bodies fall we wondered whether you, holding up those lathis and bringing them down on the young people with such ferocity, were in your senses. Because if you were, how could you not see the faces of your own brothers, sisters, and children among the thousands who had gathered from across the length and breadth of this country at its capital seeking justice, demanding an education free of corruption and a future free of uncertainties! Video after video showed us how right next to you men in plain clothes wielded state sanctioned lathis, threw stones and beat up protesters till children as young as ten or eleven were screaming in pain. And you who have taken oaths to protect this country’s citizens went on a rampage on peaceful demonstrators shattering both your promise and our trust. Continue reading Open Letter From Concerned Citizens to Police and Security Forces at Jantar Mantar →