93 Ex-Civil Servants Write Open Letter to Modi, Shah: Youth Need Answers, Not Pellets and Lathis

The following is the full text of an open letter from the Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG) on police brutality in Delhi on July 20, 2026, addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the Lieutenant Governor of NCT of Delhi Taranjit Singh Sandhu, the Commissioner of Police, Delhi, Anurag Kumar. The open letter was prompted by the Delhi Police's handling of the July 20 'Sansad Chalo' student protest, alleging excessive force – including pellet guns, tasers, tear gas and lathi charges – against demonstrators demanding examination reforms and accountability over recurring exam scandals.

The CCG is a group of citizens who have served at apex levels of government and governance who wish to highlight the situation on the ground to all Indians. Its latest statement is an urgent call for accountability and dialogue.

Among the prominent signatories are former Delhi lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung, former foreign secretary and national security adviser Shivshankar Menon, former election commissioner Ashok Lavasa, former Jammu and Kashmir interlocutor and ex-RAW chief A.S. Dulat, former foreign secretary Sujatha Singh, former IAS officer and rights activist Aruna Roy, former IAS officer and activist Harsh Mander, and former Punjab DGP Julio Ribeiro, along with several retired secretaries to the Government of India, ambassadors, police chiefs and chief secretaries. Below is the text of the open letter. 

§

1. We, the members of the Constitutional Conduct Group, a collective of former civil servants belonging to the All India Services and the Central Services with no political affiliation and committed to the promotion of the foundational values of our Republic and the observance of norms of Constitutional conduct, are deeply shocked and greatly anguished by the brutal police action against peaceful student protesters ventilating legitimate nationwide grievances, during and after the Sansad Chalo march in Delhi on 20 July 2026.

2. Reports indicate that the Delhi Police and Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel used pellet guns, electrical batons (tasers) and tear gas against demonstrators resulting in serious injuries to several youth, including
to a young protester, who required surgery to remove pellets from near his eye and neck. A 15-year-old child was among those injured and hospitalised.

Disturbing visuals also show several policemen and RAF personnel, some with no name tags, and plainclothes men and policemen in civilian attire, mercilessly lashing out at protesters, including young women, with lathis, in some cases embedded with nails; sexual misbehaviour by at least one policeman who should be identified and given exemplary punishment; the suspicious parking of a truck filled with stones despite strict checking in a high-security area and stone-throwing by policemen; and the questionable rounding up and movement of protesters from police station to police station without access to lawyers.

This may well be the first time that such force has been used against unarmed young protestors agitating for their legitimate right of education and work on such a scale anywhere in India.

3. Even more alarming were visuals of armed police with guns trained at the gates of Parliament in case the march reached there. Orders were issued on July 23 to close down offices and shops in central Delhi on top of  disruptions in mass transport and metro services to make it difficult for citizens to reach the protest site, and to shut down internet services.

Facial Recognition Vans were deployed to live-scan peaceful protesters, constituting a violation of the citizen’s
fundamental right to privacy, enunciated by the Supreme Court in the Puttaswamy case, which could be weaponised as tools of intimidation and suppression of fundamental rights. Most worrying are orders and visuals deploying CRPF in riot gear to the protest sites.

4. Such use of illegal and disproportionate force in the national capital against young citizens exercising their democratic rights is unacceptable and reflects unfortunate precedents earlier set in JNU and Jamia Millia Islamia in 2019 and 2020.

We also note that the state has been derelict in its duty of orderly management of crowds at the protest site and during the protest march, leaving that entirely to the organisers, and in fact, creating stampede inducing situations by the use of barricades to confine protestors in small spaces.

5. Under public pressure, a meaningless dialogue was started, with photo-op visits to the injured in hospitals. The list of those arrested has not been released. The government has also not uttered a word on those NEET candidates who committed suicide. Perhaps the greatest shock of all is the Supreme Court’s reported refusal to
hear a plea against police action on the young protesters on the grounds that they did not have time to “waste” to watch ‘videos’.

6. In a democracy, the right to peaceful protest is a fundamental right guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution. Students, many as young as 14 years old, took to the streets not out of mischief or to indulge in vandalism but because of the chronic failure of our examination and evaluation systems to ensure a fair deal to these students, and out of desperation over their futures imperilled by repeated examination scandals, paper leaks, administrative failures and policy mismanagement in the education sector. These young citizens deserve empathy, dialogue, protection and solutions, not pellets and lathis.

7. We are deeply disturbed to note that the use of police repression and state violence is increasingly becoming the norm to counter any public protest or agitation. This is especially reprehensible when the protesters are students as young as thirteen and fo urteen years, many of them girls.

It is also beyond comprehension that instead of engaging in meaningful dialogue, the government has chosen suppression and deflection. Students are the future of this nation. Refusing to address their genuine grievances while deploying force against them marks an indifference to the future of the entire country, erodes public trust and violates the spirit of constitutional governance.

8. The members of the Constitutional Conduct Group demand:

(i) An independent judicial inquiry into the police action of July 20,  2026, including the use of pellet guns and shock batons in Delhi.
(ii) Immediate suspension of and departmental action against officers responsible for ordering and using disproportionate force and impermissible techniques.
(iii) Unconditional release of any detained students, medical care for all injured, and compensation for all those injured in the police action in proportion to the seriousness of their injuries.
(iv) Immediate initiation of structured dialogue with student representatives on examination reforms, accountability of NTA, and long-term changes in the education system.
(v) Withdrawal of all police cases in respect of those protesters against whom there is no credible and independent evidence of committing any act of violenc
(vi) Review of Crowd Management Drill/Instructions on use of force in police academies and training schools, and psychological assessment of all candidates before recruitment in the police force.

9. The government must remember that its primary duty is to serve the people, especially the youth who represent India’s demographic dividend. Repression will only deepen alienation. Dialogue and accountability are the hallmarks of a mature democracy.

10. We urge you to uphold the Constitution in both letter and spirit. Restore faith in democratic institutions before it is too late.

Satyameva Jayate

Signatories

1. Anita Agnihotri IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Social Justice Empowerment, Government of India
2. Anand Arni RAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India
3. Mohinderpal Aulakh IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police (Jails), Government of Punjab
4. Aruna Bagchee IAS (Retd.) Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines, Government of India
5. J.L. Bajaj IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Administrative Reforms and Decentralisation Commission, Government of Uttar Pradesh
6. G. Balachandhran IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Government of West Bengal
7. Vappala Balachandran IPS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India
8. Chandrashekar Balakrishnan IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Coal, Government of India
9. Sushant Baliga Engineering Services (Retd.) Former Additional Director General, Central PWD, Government of India
10. Sharad Behar IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Government of Madhya Pradesh
11. Madhu Bhaduri IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Portugal
12. K.V. Bhagirath IFS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, Indian Ocean Rim Association, Mauritius
13. Nutan Guha Biswas IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Police Complaints Authority, Government of NCT of Delhi
14. Meeran C. Borwankar IPS (Retd.) Former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and Development,
Government of India
15. Ravi Budhiraja IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, Government of India
16. Maneshwar Singh Chahal IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Home, Government  of Punjab
17. R. Chandramohan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Government of NCT of Delhi
18. Kalyani Chaudhuri IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Government of West Bengal
19. Gurjit Singh Cheema IAS (Retd.) Former Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Government of Punjab
20. F.T.R. Colaso IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police, Government of Karnataka & former Director General of Police, Government of Jammu & Kashmir
21. Pradeep K. Deb IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Deptt. Of Sports, Government of India
22. Nitin Desai Former Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, Government of India
23. Sushil Dubey IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Sweden
24. A.S. Dulat IPS (Retd.) Former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Office, Government of India
25. K.P. Fabian IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Italy
26. Prabhu Ghate IAS (Retd.) Former Dditional Director General, Department of Tourism, Government of India
27. Suresh K. Goel IFS (Retd.) Former Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, Government of India
28. S.K. Guha IAS (Retd.) Former Joint Secretary, Department of Women & Child Development, Government of India
29. Meena Gupta IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, Governmentof India
30. Sajjad Hassan IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Government of Manipur
31. Syed Masood Husain IES (Retd.) Former Chairman, Central Water Commission & ex-officio Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India
32. Siraj Hussain IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Government of India
33. Kamal Jaswal IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Government of India
34. Ashish Joshi IP&TAFS (Retd.) Former Principal Controller, Communications Accounts, North Zone, Government of India
35. Najeeb Jung IAS (Retd.) Former Lieutenant Governor, Delhi
36. Sanjay Kaul IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Government of Karnataka
37. Gita Kripalani IRS (Retd.) Former Member, Settlement Commission, Government of India
38. Ashok Kumar IFS (Retd.) Former High Commissioner to Zambia
39. Ish Kumar IPS (Retd.) Former DGP (Vigilance & Enforcement), Government of Telangana and former Special Rapporteur, National Human Rights Commission
40. Sudhir Kumar IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal
41. Subodh Lal IPoS (Resigned) Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Communications, Government of India
42. Ashok Lavasa IAS (Retd.) Former Election Commissioner
43. Dinesh Malhotra IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Government of Himachal Pradesh
44. P.M.S. Malik IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Myanmar & Special Secretary, MEA, Government of India
45. Harsh Mander IAS (Retd.) Government of Madhya Pradesh
46. Amitabh Mathur IPS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India
47. Aditi Mehta IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Rajasthan
48. Shivshankar Menon IFS (Retd.) Former Foreign Secretary and Former National Security Adviser, Government of India
49. Malay Mishra IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Hungary
50. Satya Narayan Mohanty IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission
51. Sudhansu Mohanty IDAS (Retd.) Former Financial Adviser (Defence Services), Ministry of Defence, Government of India
52. Anup Mukerji IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Government of Bihar
53. Deb Mukharji IFS (Retd.) Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal
54. Jayashree Mukherjee IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Maharashtra
55. Shiv Shankar Mukherjee IFS (Retd.) Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
56. Gautam Mukhopadhaya IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Myanmar
57. P. Joy Oommen IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Government of Chhattisgarh
58. Amitabha Pande IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, Government of India
59. Alok Perti IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Coal, Government of India
60. Gurnihal Singh Pirzada IAS (Resigned) Former MD, Punjab State Electronic Development & Production Corporation, Government of Punjab
61. Jayant Prasad IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Nepal
62. Rajesh Prasad IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to the Netherlands
63. Smita Purushottam IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Switzerland
64. T.R. Raghunandan IAS (Retd.) Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India
65. N.K. Raghupathy
IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, Government of India
66. V.P. Raja IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity
Regulatory Commission
67. V. Ramani IAS (Retd.) Former Director General, YASHADA, Government of Maharashtra
68. M. Rameshkumar IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal
69. K. Sujatha Rao IAS (Retd.) Former Health Secretary, Government of India
70. Madhukumar Reddy A. IRTS (Retd.) Former Principal Executive Director, Railway Board, Government of India
71. Satwant Reddy IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Government of India
72. Julio Ribeiro IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police, Government of Punjab
73. Aruna Roy IAS (Resigned)
74. A.K. Samanta IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police (Intelligence), Government of West Bengal
75. Deepak Sanan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Government of Himachal Pradesh
76. G.V. Venugopala Sarma IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Government of Odisha
77. N.C. Saxena IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Planning Commission, Government of India
78. Ardhendu Sen IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Government of West Bengal
79. Abhijit Sengupta IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Government of India
80. Aftab Seth IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Japan
81. Ashok Kumar Sharma IFoS (Retd.) Former MD, State Forest Development Corporation, Government of Gujarat
82. Ashok Kumar Sharma IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia
83. Navrekha Sharma IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Indonesia
84. Pravesh Sharma IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Madhya Pradesh
85. Raju Sharma IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Government of Uttar Pradesh
86. Avay Shukla IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary (Forests & Technical Education), Government of Himachal Pradesh
87. Ajai Kumar Singh IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police, Government of Karnataka
88. Sujatha Singh IFS (Retd.) Former Foreign Secretary, Government of India
89. Tara Ajai Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka
90. Prakriti Srivastava IFoS (Retd.) Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & Special Officer, Rebuild Kerala Development Programme, Government of Kerala
91. Anup Thakur IAS (Retd.) Former Member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
92. Geetha Thoopal IRAS (Retd.) Former General Manager, Metro Railway, Kolkata
93. Rudi Warjri IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica

The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.