Every claim below links to its source. Read them, check them, and decide for yourself. Events run through July 20, 2026.
India's undergraduate medical entrance exam goes ahead nationwide, administered by the National Testing Agency. NEET is the single national gateway to a medical seat, held once a year — for most candidates the result of two or more years of preparation.
Investigators find overlaps between a pre-circulated "guess paper" and the actual question paper. The CBI and Rajasthan Police open probes, arrests follow, and a re-exam is ordered.
The Cockroach Janta Party — a Gen Z satirical movement that took its name after a Supreme Court justice likened some unemployed young people to "cockroaches" — begins a sit-in at Jantar Mantar with student groups SFI, AISA and AISF, demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The demands widen to CBSE's on-screen marking system for Class 12, where scanned answer sheets reportedly didn't match students' own handwriting. Same system, same students, second failure.
After the re-examination, organisers call on aspirants to join the sit-in, and the movement spreads fast on social media. A re-test, protesters argue, restores the exam — not trust in the system that lost it.
The Ladakhi engineer and education reformer joins six students in an indefinite hunger strike at the protest site. The movement now has a face the country recognises — and a clock the government cannot ignore.
CJP ties the protest to the suicide of a student affected by the leak and launches a nationwide campaign for the minister's resignation.
After failing to clear NEET-UG, a student dies by suicide — cited by the movement as the human cost of an exam system that keeps breaking under the people who depend on it.
The hunger strike enters its third week with no substantive government engagement with the protesters' demands.
After three weeks without food, Wangchuk is taken to hospital. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke begins his own indefinite fast in his place, and organisers confirm the march is on.
Thousands — schoolchildren to the elderly — gather at Jantar Mantar in the rain, despite prohibitory orders and closed metro stations. As marchers push toward Parliament, police respond with lathi charges and tear gas near Parliament Street, Patel Chowk and Rail Bhawan; protesters and police are injured, internet is suspended in parts of central Delhi, and detentions include SP MP Dimple Yadav. CJP says founder Abhijeet Dipke has been picked up by police; Delhi Police formally deny it and the CJP spokesperson retracts the claim the same day. Parliament's opening day is adjourned as opposition members raise the protests inside the House.
Fairness cuts both ways. Here is what the government has done since May — and what, as of July 22, it has not.
Cancelled the compromised exam and ordered a re-examination, held in June. Opened CBI and Rajasthan Police investigations; arrests followed. Removed the CBSE chairman and secretary over the evaluation irregularities. Arranged court-directed medical monitoring of the hunger strikers. Received the CJP's written demands through a meeting with the Union Health Minister, who visited injured protesters at RML and Lady Hardinge hospitals on July 21. Released all July 20 detainees by the evening of July 21, per both Delhi Police and CJP's lawyers. Engaged with Wangchuk through ministerial meetings — his July 22 letter records verbal assurances, including that compensation for families of students who died by suicide would be positively considered.
No resignation or reassignment of the education minister the protesters hold responsible. No substantive engagement from the government with the sit-in's demands through three weeks of hunger strike. No announced structural reform of the National Testing Agency, whose exams have now failed twice in one cycle. No assurances on any of the three demands submitted in writing on July 20, according to government sources. No written assurance, as of July 22, on the one condition Wangchuk has set for ending his fast — that student marchers face no legal action.
The most contested moments are told very differently depending on who's talking. Both versions of each, sourced. Decide for yourself.
Delhi Police say Wangchuk was "shifted to hospital for essential medical care" on High Court orders and doctors' advice, describing only a "slight commotion" as protesters obstructed a scheduled medical exam. BJP spokespeople called timely medical care the responsible course, not a matter for controversy.
Organisers and supporters say he was taken against his will in a move timed to break the protest two days before the march, with his wife insisting no treatment proceed without the family's consent.
Delhi Police say protesters attempted to breach barricades in a high-security zone under prohibitory orders — and New Delhi's Deputy Commissioner of Police stated that no Delhi Police personnel used force on protesters.
PTI's reporting and photographs from the day document lathi charges and tear gas at multiple locations, injuries to both protesters and police personnel, an internet shutdown in parts of central Delhi, and baton charges captured on camera.
Delhi Police confirmed that mobile internet was suspended in parts of Central Delhi during the march, reported as a precautionary measure. Telecom operators said they acted on government instructions; services were restored by evening.
No suspension order has been published by the Home Ministry, the telecom department, the Delhi government or Delhi Police — so which authority ordered it, on what grounds, and for how long is not publicly known, though publication is required by the Supreme Court's Anuradha Bhasin ruling and the 2024 telecom suspension rules. Two days on, no order had surfaced; the Internet Freedom Foundation says it will seek the orders under RTI.
New Delhi's Deputy Commissioner of Police stated that no Delhi Police personnel used force on protesters. In its Monday statement, Delhi Police counted more than 118 injured police personnel against 60 injured protesters.
Reporting from RML Hospital's emergency ward on the night of the march describes students with stitched wounds, broken bones and bloodied bandages. On Tuesday, agency copy reported that a woman injured in the police action is on ventilator support at RML, per hospital sources. On July 22, RML said in an official statement that she had been taken off ventilator support — conscious, with normal brain and spine MRIs.
Coverage of this story is not evenly spread across the political spectrum: the sympathetic long-form reporting is largely international (built on Reuters wire copy), while the government's case appears mainly as official statements inside those same stories. Compare outlets yourself on Ground News before settling on a version.
Occasional dated updates as reported developments warrant — one entry per development, each sourced. Not a live feed; the record above stands as of July 20.
In a letter to Union Ministers J P Nadda and Jitendra Singh, Sonam Wangchuk writes that he will end his hunger strike on one unequivocal assurance: that no student who marched on July 20 faces legal action or harassment. Absent that, he writes, the fast continues indefinitely. The letter records verbal ministerial assurances, including that compensation for families of students who died by suicide will be positively considered. The same day, CJP declined a proposal to meet Nadda at his residence, proposing Jantar Mantar or a neutral venue nearby instead.
The Delhi High Court issues notice to the Centre and Delhi Police on petitions alleging excessive force during the July 20 march, gives four weeks for replies, and directs that all relevant records — CCTV footage and videography included — be preserved under the police's own SOP. The bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia expresses no opinion yet on the allegations or the videos' authenticity, and lists the matter for September 11. In court, petitioners' counsel submit the assembly was lawful and the force disproportionate; the Additional Solicitor General submits the pleas rest on unverified social-media videos and that the crowd turned violent. At least nine FIRs now stand registered, up from five reported a day earlier.
In an official statement, RML Hospital says the 21-year-old critically injured on July 20 has been extubated and is breathing on her own — conscious, responding to commands, with normal MRI scans of the brain and spine — and is the only patient still admitted there in connection with the incident. This upgrades the July 21 report, which rested on unnamed hospital sources.
CJP alleges hundreds remain detained with lawyers denied access; Delhi Police respond in a statement that "no person is currently under detention," calling the circulating claims misleading. CJP's own lawyers then confirm all detainees have been released, and the planned sit-in outside Police Headquarters is called off — closing the question the party had raised earlier in the day.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, at the protest site, apologises to injured supporters and says the agitation will continue. The party demands the release of all detained protesters and asks Delhi Police to state how many people remain in custody.
A woman injured in Monday's police action is on ventilator support at RML Hospital, hospital sources told reporters. Union Health Minister J P Nadda visited RML and Lady Hardinge hospitals, where authorities briefed him that the injured were under medical supervision. Delhi Police put Monday's injured at around 60 protesters and over 118 police personnel.
The Delhi High Court declined urgent listing of a plea alleging excessive police force against protesters — the Chief Justice remarked that the Court "should not be dragged into such matters" — and listed it for Wednesday, July 22. The CJP's written memorandum of three demands, submitted to Union Minister J P Nadda on Monday, received no assurances, according to government sources.
Union Health Minister J P Nadda says the government held discussions with representatives, saying they had approached it earlier with proposals for talks. Delhi Police maintain no personnel used force on protesters.
The march happened on 20 July — met with barricades, tear gas and lathi charges before it reached Parliament. The demands remain unanswered. Read the sources on this page and pass it on. An informed crowd is harder to ignore than a loud one.