New Delhi [India], July 28 : Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav on Tuesday, in Lok Sabha, demanded that Union Home Minister Amit Shah personally answer for what she described as a "barbaric" police crackdown on students who had gathered peacefully in the national capital to protest the NEET-UG paper leak and demand the Education Minister's resignation.
Participating in a discussion on the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, Yadav called out Shah over the violence she claimed was used on protesting students.
"I would like the Home Minister to come and answer why such violence was used against children in Delhi who had come with non-violence," she said.
She claimed that the students were met with a violent police crackdown. "We were also a part of the protest because our nation's children were sitting there... but the barbarity which was seen on the street cannot be described. You put barricades every 100 meters and trapped children, and then you lathi-charged children,hit their heads and clothes of girls were torn. You used pellet guns, and in Bihar, AK-47 was used," she alleged.
"The students' movement was peaceful. SP also participated in the andolan.. 37 students were on fast. We were also there, I also went on July 18 and met with Sonam Wangchuk who was on a fast.
Lauding the courage displayed by the students during the protest, she said, "Today, we salute and appreciate our youth and students who weren't afraid of this administration and fought this egoistical government," she said.
She questioned the state of Indian democracy itself, stating, "This nation has democracy, but is there freedom? Students came from all states on July 20 because they wanted to show unity and put forward their issue and for the resignation of the Education Minister. But what was the government's approach towards them?"
She said the courage shown by the protesters and police action against them would not be forgotten.
"The children faced this government without fear. The way you attacked the youth ...no one is going to forget this," she said, adding that the government had failed to intimidate the students despite the crackdown.
"They were feeling humiliated i could feel their pain I was there..." she said.
"The members here are shifting from here to there out of fear because the government wants to pass the Delimitation Bill, but you couldn't pressure the children. We are proud that they didn't bow, they fought and won," she said.
Hitting out at the Centre over frequent references to the 1975 Emergency, Yadav argued that the real parallel lay in the government's own conduct during the protests.
"They talk about Emergency; it was imposed 50 years ago. If you wanted to see emergency, then you should have come to the streets and seen what a real emergency is. When children were bleeding and sweating, you were sitting safe here in the Sansad," she said.
Yadav also raised questions over the effectiveness of the government's existing anti-paper-leak law, pointing to the cancellation of NEET-UG earlier this year despite the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill already being in force.
"On May 3, NEET-UG was conducted, and on May 12, it was cancelled, but the question is: if in 2024, this Bill was passed, why did the leakage happen? These leakages that happened after 2024, is this a conspiracy by the government? Either this is a conspiracy or the government system has a permanent leakage," she said.
Yadav's remarks come in the wake of weeks of student protests at Delhi's Jantar Mantar over the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak, which culminated with the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as the Union Education Minister.
The protest, which drew a large number of students, escalated after police used force to disperse the crowd, with reports of lathi charges, pellet guns against protesters, and allegations of AK-47 being deployed against demonstrators in Bihar.
The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology Jitendra Singh introduced the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026 in the Lok Sabha on July 27.
The Amendment Bill seeks to further strengthen the provisions of the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 by providing for fast-tracked investigation, speedy trial through Special Fast Track Courts, appointment of Special Public Prosecutors, time-bound disposal of appeals and more stringent penal provisions to effectively deter unfair means and organised malpractices in public examinations.