Nadda says FIRs against July protest participants to be withdrawn

Union Health Minister J P Nadda said FIRs against participants in July protests would be withdrawn, with no stringent action. The government will also compensate families of NEET-UG 2026 paper-leak victims who died by suicide, sources said

New Delhi: All FIRs lodged against those who took part in the Cockroach Janta Party-led protests in July will be withdrawn, and no stringent action will be taken against any of them, Union Health Minister J P Nadda said on Tuesday. The government has also decided to pay adequate compensation to the next of kin of those who committed suicide following the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak within 90 days, sources said. Nadda’s remarks came shortly after the Supreme Court quashed all the FIRs registered against students who participated in the CJP-led protests from July 20-25 across the country, prompting the outfit to call off its September 5 march in the national capital.

Nadda said that on July 25, he and his colleague Jitendra Singh held talks with representatives of students protesting at the Jantar Mantar and assured them that the cases registered against the agitators would be withdrawn and no stringent action would be taken in the matter. “On behalf of the government of India, we had assured the students, keeping their future in mind, that the cases registered against the protesting students would be withdrawn and that no further stringent action would be taken against them,” Nadda told reporters here.

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Welcoming the CJP’s decision to call off the September 5 march, Nadda said the Centre has consulted all the BJP-ruled states, which have assured to withdraw all FIRs lodged against CJP protesters in their jurisdictions. “We held discussions with the BJP-ruled states in the same spirit. We are now going to fulfil our assurance. We welcome the CJP’s decision to call off the September 5 protest in Delhi,” Nadda said. The Union minister also said that the welfare and progress of the country’s youth remained the government’s utmost priority.

The CJP had called for a protest march in Delhi on Teachers’ Day (September 5) after accusing the Centre of failing to honour the promises made on July 25 to persuade the group to withdraw its 36-day agitation against irregularities in exams and the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak.

According to the July 25 agreement between the government and the CJP, the government had promised to provide “honourable” compensation to the families of NEET-UG aspirants who committed suicide following the paper leak and the subsequent cancellation of the exam. On May 12, the National Testing Agency cancelled the NEET-UG 2026 conducted on May following allegations of paper leak. A re-test was held on June 21.

According to the CJP, the march was to be led by families of students who committed suicide following the cancellation of NEET-UG 2026 and the subsequent re-test, as well as those who were allegedly subjected to police excesses during the July agitations. The CJP-led ‘Chalo Sansad’ march on July 20 had led to clashes between the protesters and security forces, who used lathis and teargas shells to disperse the crowds attempting to move towards Parliament.

The student-led protests, which spread to several cities, centred around the demand for then-Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation. The agitation, which began at the Jantar Mantar on June 20, was called off on July 25 after Pradhan resigned and the government accepted the CJP’s other demands.