A night of poetry and solidarity at Jantar Mantar after police crackdown
Indian Express reporters describe an overnight gathering at Jantar Mantar on July 21–22 — poetry recitals, food-sharing, and thousands returning hours after the lathi charge.
The Indian Express published a detailed ground report from Jantar Mantar on the night of July 21–22, describing the scene hours after Delhi Police used batons and tear gas on CJP protesters.
What Indian Express reported
Reporters Mishal Mussaddique and Reva Thakkar described thousands returning to Jantar Mantar by late evening, with the gathering continuing past 4 a.m. Key details from their report:
- At around 2:30 a.m., Mohammed Irfan, described as a daily wage labourer, recited Urdu poet Ahmad Farhad's poem Kafir hun sar-phira hun mujhe maar dijiye to a circle of listeners.
- Chants of "Azadi," "Jai Bhim," and "Inquilab Zindabad" were heard through the night.
- Nine-year-old Farheen Siddiqui sat on her brother's shoulders holding a sketch of Sonam Wangchuk.
- NEET aspirants from Uttar Pradesh were present. Ritick Chowdhary (20), who scored 504 in the re-test but could not secure a government medical college seat, was among those injured in Monday's lathi charge.
- Deep Yadav and Ritick Chowdhary had travelled 15 hours by train from Gorakhpur.
- Jitesh Kumar Meena, a member of the Meena tribe from Dausa, Rajasthan, had been at the protest for five days.
- Adreeta Roshni, a dance and movement therapy practitioner from Kolkata who arrived Sunday night, was still greeting arrivals at the barricades past 4 a.m. She had visible bruises from Monday's lathi charge.
- Volunteers distributed water, food, and hand-held fans at the entrance.
What we can verify
- Indian Express published a bylined ground report describing the overnight scene at Jantar Mantar on July 21–22. — Indian Express
- The gathering included NEET aspirants, daily wage workers, and people from multiple states, per the IE report. — Indian Express
- Separately, Indian Express reported the protest had entered its third day on July 22. — Indian Express
What remains unverified
- Exact crowd size at any hour — [unverified]. IE uses qualitative language ("thousands") without a firm count.
- Individual injury claims beyond what IE reporters attributed to named individuals.
Sources cited
CJP policy: every fact in this article is traceable to a public source. We never publish what we cannot verify.
- ›Indian Express — At Jantar Mantar, a night of poetry and solidarity after police crackdown on CJP protests (Mishal Mussaddique, Reva Thakkar) — https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/cjp-protest-police-crackdown-jantar-mantar-poetry-solidarity-night-10797853
- ›Indian Express — CJP protest enters third day — https://indianexpress.com/article/india/rahul-gandhi-detention-centre-outreach-sonam-wangchuk-cjp-protest-jantar-mantar-10797582
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