Ranchi Woman Undergoes Ear Surgery After Police Crackdown on CJP Protest

A 32-year-old corporate worker recovering at her family home in Ranchi has undergone nearly two hours of reconstructive plastic surgery after her right ear was split open during the July 20 police action on the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) Sansad Chalo demonstration in New Delhi.

Nootan Toppo, a Gurgaon-based professional holding dual master’s degrees in political science and physical education, travelled to Jantar Mantar alongside two friends to join demonstrations against paper leaks and demand systemic examination reforms. According to her account to reporters on Tuesday, security personnel — including members of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) and unidentified men in civilian clothes carrying wooden batons — initiated an unprovoked lathicharge on the crowd shortly after she took a selfie.

Toppo noted that multiple uniformed personnel had removed their identification badges, while civilian-clothed men used abusive language toward demonstrators. When she confronted security officers to ask why badges were missing, she was thwacked across the right side of her head, causing immediate heavy bleeding and near-total hearing loss in her right ear.

Fellow protesters improvised a pressure bandage using a stole to stop the bleeding before her friends transported her to Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital in New Delhi. Her Medico-Legal Certificate (MLC) and hospital admission records noted "swelling of ear lobe" and recorded a "suspected gunshot injury," noting trauma consistent with a close-range rubber bullet or kinetic projectile impact. Toppo subsequently underwent a two-hour plastic surgery procedure involving extensive suturing to rebuild the ear structure. She continues to experience hearing impairment and recurring post-surgical fevers.

What we can verify

• Medical and surgical record: Nootan Toppo, 32, was treated at RML Hospital in Delhi, where medical records and her MLC documented a suspected gunshot or kinetic projectile injury to her right ear, requiring nearly two hours of reconstructive plastic surgery. — The Indian Express; Times of India
• Victim eyewitness testimony: Toppo stated that RAF personnel and unbadged civilian-clothed men initiated an unprovoked baton charge near Jantar Mantar and Connaught Place on July 20, leaving her with a severed ear lobe after confronting officers about missing badges. — The Indian Express
• Internal force contradiction: An internal inquiry by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) separately confirmed that a Rapid Action Force (RAF) unit deployed near Connaught Place fired seven rounds from a pellet gun during the July 20 dispersal, directly contradicting Delhi Police's public assertion that no pellet munitions were possessed or deployed. — The Indian Express

What remains unverified

• Munition type identification: Hospital MLC documentation records a "suspected gunshot injury" and notes physical trauma consistent with a rubber bullet or pellet cartridge, but ballistic testing has not formally identified the exact projectile that struck Toppo. — [unverified]
• Identity of civilian-clothed personnel: The official affiliation of the men in civilian dress carrying batons alongside uniformed RAF personnel has not been disclosed by Delhi Police or the Ministry of Home Affairs. — [unverified]