Kapil Sibal Pledges Rs 1 Crore Legal Aid for CJP Protesters Facing FIRs

Senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Monday announced a personal contribution of Rs 1 crore to seed a nationwide legal-aid network for students and protesters facing police action linked to the NEET-UG paper-leak agitation, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) confirmed at a joint press conference with spokesperson Saurav Das.

Sibal said the fund would document instances of police action against demonstrators across states, connect affected students with volunteer lawyers, and build a website where advocates willing to represent protesters can register. “Wherever the law is misused and false cases are filed against peaceful protesters, we will stand with them. Our lawyers will support them across India,” he said.

The announcement comes as CJP leaders warn the Centre is violating the verbal no-punitive-action understanding that led to the suspension of their 37-day sit-in at Jantar Mantar. National spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka told reporters that Union Health Minister J P Nadda and MoS PMO Jitendra Singh had agreed in the third round of talks that all FIRs related to the Jantar Mantar protests and the July 20 “Parliament march” would be withdrawn, no fresh FIRs would be registered, and a written agreement would be shared by Tuesday, 28 July.

Ranka said CJP submitted a draft agreement and is awaiting the government’s countersigned version. “If the written agreement is not shared by tomorrow, and if students, youth and protesters detained in different states are not released, CJP will be compelled to launch protests again,” he said.

What we can verify

• Kapil Sibal’s Rs 1 crore pledge was made at a joint press conference with CJP on 27 July 2026. — Moneycontrol; The Times of India; LiveLaw
• CJP’s legal-aid platform plan: a website to track police action, log detentions, and enlist volunteer lawyers. — Moneycontrol; The Times of India
• Truce terms cited by Ashutosh Ranka: withdrawal of all FIRs filed against protesters, no fresh FIRs, written agreement to be shared by 28 July 2026. — Moneycontrol; LiveLaw
• Renewed-protest warning if the Centre does not deliver the written agreement or release detainees by Tuesday. — Moneycontrol; LiveLaw

What remains unverified

• Exact number of students detained or FIRs registered across Bihar, Bengal, Assam and other states since the truce; CJP claims “hundreds” but independent police tallies or court custody lists have not been published. — [unverified]
• Whether the Centre has prepared or will issue the written agreement by the Tuesday deadline; no official government statement confirming the draft has been seen. — [unverified]
• Operational details of the legal-aid website (launch date, scope of lawyer onboarding, fund disbursement mechanism) — CJP says it is “being created” but no URL or timeline confirmed. — [unverified]