‘No legal action, FIRs being withdrawn’: Bihar govt assures protesters in big win for students, CJP
Look, sometimes the system actually listens. Not always, and not perfectly, but every now and then something shifts, and you feel it in the air. That’s what’s happening in Bihar right now. On Monday evening, the Bihar government put it in writing. The Home Department issued a notification saying it is withdrawing all FIRs, complaints and show-cause notices linked to the protests over the NEET paper leak — specifically for incidents that took place before 6 am on 26 July. People who were arrested in connection with those events will be released “forthwith.” No more legal action on those cases. Just like that. For the students who spent weeks on the streets, for the families who spent sleepless nights wondering if their kids would have a police record hanging over them for years, this is huge. It’s the kind of relief that doesn’t come with fireworks or victory marches. It comes quietly, in the form of a government order that finally matches what was promised. You remember how this started. The NEET paper leak allegations exploded across the country. Students who had prepared for years felt cheated. Trust in the examination system took a beating. Protests grew, first in pockets, then into a nationwide movement. The Cockroach Janta Party, or CJP, became the loudest voice. They sat at Jantar Mantar, they organised, they kept the pressure on. The agitation went on for more than a month. It got messy in places — stone-pelting, police action, injuries, even firing in Siwan. But the core demand was simple: fix the system, hold people accountable, and stop treating students like criminals for raising their voices. Then came the talks in Delhi. Union ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh sat down with CJP representatives. The government accepted the demand for Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation as Education Minister. That happened. They also gave verbal assurances that no punitive action would be taken against peaceful protesters, that existing FIRs would be withdrawn, and that no fresh cases would be filed for the agitation. CJP, in good faith, suspended the nationwide protest. But the ground reality in the states lagged behind. Reports started coming in of students still being detained or facing cases in Assam, West Bengal and Bihar. CJP leaders got angry. They called it a breach of trust. They said they had withdrawn the agitation only because of the clear assurance that no one would face coercive action. They warned that if the promises weren’t kept — if detainees weren’t released and FIRs weren’t pulled back — they would be forced to hit the streets again. Kapil Sibal even stepped in with legal support and a fund. The tension was real. In Bihar, opposition voices, including Tejashwi Yadav, added pressure. He gave the state government a 24-hour ultimatum: withdraw the cases, release the students, or face a bigger movement. Student organisations like AISA kept the heat on. The situation looked like it could spiral again. And then Bihar moved. The notification came. Cases linked to the protests before that specific cut-off time are being withdrawn. Those in jail will walk free. It’s not a complete clean slate for every single incident that happened after, and the Centre still has to fully deliver on the written guarantee CJP is waiting for by Tuesday. But for Bihar, this is a clear step. Officials have said no legal action will follow on these matters. That assurance matters. Think about what this means for the students. Many of them are first-generation learners, kids from small towns and villages who poured everything into clearing NEET. A police case against your name doesn’t just disappear from records. It follows you into jobs, into higher education, into the way people look at you. Having those FIRs withdrawn is not a small technicality. It’s dignity restored. It’s the state saying, “We hear you, and we’re not going to punish you for speaking up.” CJP has called this a big win, and it is. The organisation may have started as an online movement with a quirky name, but it forced a national conversation on exam integrity and the treatment of student protesters. The fact that a state government is now formally rolling back cases is validation of that pressure. At the same time, CJP leaders are still watching the other states closely. They have made it clear that the Centre’s written commitment is still pending, and any fresh harassment will bring them back to the streets. This doesn’t magically fix the deeper problems. Paper leaks, coaching mafia influence, the immense pressure on young people — those issues remain. The government has talked about considering CJP’s five-point charter on examination reforms and providing compensation to families of students who died by suicide linked to the crisis. Those conversations need to continue. Real change will take more than withdrawn FIRs. But for now, in Bihar, the immediate threat of legal harassment has been lifted for hundreds of young people. Parents can breathe a little easier. Students who were sitting in lock-ups or living under the shadow of cases can step back into their lives. That is not nothing. Politics will keep spinning. Opposition parties will claim credit, the ruling side will say they acted with maturity, and social media will argue over who “won.” The students themselves just wanted a fair system and the freedom to protest without permanent punishment. On that last point, Bihar has finally delivered the words they needed to hear: no legal action, FIRs being withdrawn. Sometimes the system does listen. Not always gracefully, not always completely, but it listens. And when it does, the kids who stood in the sun and the rain for weeks get to go home without a case hanging over their heads. That feels like a win worth noting. Sources: @Rohit Manral
Sonam Wangchuk Explains Why He finished His 26-Day Fast Without Dharmendra Pradhan’s Resignation
Climate activist and educationist Sonam Wangchuk has finally broken his 26-day hunger strike. He did it late on Thursday night, July 23, 2026, while lying in a hospital bed at Medanta in Gurugram. Union Ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh were contemporary, along with leaders from the Leh Apex Body. For weeks the country had watched him grow weaker. Doctors had warned about his kidneys. Supporters kept saying his life mattered more than any single demand. Yet the one thing many people kept asking about never came through—the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Wangchuk did not hide that fact. In a video he released the next day, he spoke plainly. He said the leaders “were unable to give me any assurance as to when this would happen.” He looked tired, his voice soft, but the reasoning was clear and calm. “My mind works differently,” he told viewers. “If he doesn’t resign, it won’t harm the children or us; it will harm the government itself. He should have resigned. Resignation would have stopped all this damage long ago. This wasn’t the most important thing for me; it would be resolved on its own.” What mattered more to him, he explained, was protecting the students who had been protesting. He had watched young people in Ladakh spend years tangled in FIRs that destroyed their futures. He did not want the same thing to happen to the boys and girls sitting at Jantar Mantar or those who had joined the Sansad Chalo march on July 20. The government gave him written assurances on three points. First, no legal action or FIRs against students and youth who protested peacefully at Jantar Mantar or took part in the July 20 march. Second, appropriate compensation for the families of the more than twenty students who died by suicide linked to the paper-leak crisis. Third, a thorough discussion and debate in Parliament on accountability in the examination system so that such failures do not keep repeating. Wangchuk said these three assurances were enough for him to end the fast. He had joined the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest at Jantar Mantar on June 28 and begun the indefinite hunger strike in support of the students’ demands for reforms, accountability over repeated competitive-exam leaks, and Pradhan’s resignation. By the time police shifted him to hospital around July 18, his body was already failing. Still he continued. Around 65 Members of Parliament from different parties had either visited him or written letters urging him to stop. Thousands of ordinary people kept messaging the same thing: stay alive, the struggle needs you living. He also mentioned the risk of violence. In his first statement after breaking the fast he wrote that the decision came “after long negotiations on various conditions and in view of possible violence in the country.” He asked everyone to remain vigilant and peaceful. “Peace and only peace is my way,” he had posted earlier. Even while the protest at Jantar Mantar stayed disciplined, he was worried about reports of anti-social elements trying to stir trouble elsewhere. The CJP’s original list of demands had been longer. It included Pradhan’s resignation, one-crore compensation for each suicide victim’s family, withdrawal of all unnecessary FIRs, and prosecution of police officers accused of excesses. Wangchuk made it clear that the resignation demand had not been dropped by the movement; he simply decided it was no longer the hill he needed to die on. “I also don’t believe that we haven’t achieved this,” he said. In his view the political cost of not resigning would fall on the government itself. The protest at Jantar Mantar did not end with his fast. Students and CJP volunteers continued the sit-in, still calling for deeper reforms and accountability. Wangchuk’s wife, Gitanjali Angmo, had spoken earlier about the quiet discipline of the young people—sharing food, cleaning the site, looking after strangers, singing the national anthem under pressure. She called them role models. Wangchuk’s own message after ending the fast stayed consistent with that spirit: keep the movement peaceful, keep the focus on the students, and do not let anyone’s future be ruined by cases filed in anger. For many who followed the story, the determination felt both practical and principled. A man who had already lost more than ten kilograms, whose kidneys were under strain, chose to live so he could keep brawling. He accepted three tangible written promises and left the resignation question open, trusting that public pressure and parliamentary debate would keep working on it. Whether that trust proves right will be tested in the weeks and months ahead, when Parliament actually debates the failures in the examination system and when the promised compensation and withdrawal of cases are delivered. Wangchuk’s words remain the clearest guide to why the fast ended the way it did. He put the safety of the students and the continuation of a peaceful struggle above the single dramatic demand that had drawn the most headlines. In his own phrasing, his mind simply works differently. The government may still face the political cost of not acting on the resignation. The students, at least for now, have written protection and a place on the floor of Parliament. That, he decided, was enough to pick up a glass of juice after twenty-six days and keep going. Sources: LiveMint, “Sonam Wangchuk on govt’s three assurances…” (July 24, 2026)The Hindu, “Sonam Wangchuk has broken his fast…” (July 24, 2026)Al Jazeera / Daily Sun reports on the end of the hunger strike (July 24, 2026)Wangchuk’s own video statement and X posts (July 23–24, 2026)NDTV and other contemporary coverage of the Medanta hospital breaking of the fast @Rohit Manral