The Delhi Police has denied allegations of excessive force against student protesters during the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) demonstrations at Jantar Mantar, telling the Supreme Court that its personnel used only “graded” and permissible force after the protest allegedly turned violent.

In a counter-affidavit filed by Deputy Commissioner of Police Sachin Sharma, the police said more than 30,000 people had gathered across nearly three kilometres on July 20, while around 5,000 police personnel were deployed to manage the crowd. The police claimed that sections of the protesters breached multiple layers of barricades and attempted to move towards Parliament despite there being no permission for the march.

According to the affidavit, the resulting clashes left more than 240 police personnel and around 200 protesters or members of the public injured. The police said the scale of the crowd and the presence of people with criminal antecedents made the situation difficult to control.

The affidavit has been filed in response to petitions seeking a court-monitored probe into alleged police excesses and is intended as a common response in four connected cases.

The police has argued that the petitions rely on selective photographs, incomplete video clips and unverified media and social media reports, which allegedly present only one side of the confrontation.

On the allegation that police used lathis fitted with nails, the affidavit said videos showed one such object, but claimed it was in the hands of a protester. Police said it was actually a stick carrying the National Flag and not a police lathi.

The Delhi Police has also defended deploying facial recognition technology at the protest site, saying it was used as a proportionate policing measure to identify people with records of serious offences.

The police said no action is taken solely on the basis of facial recognition and that field verification is conducted before any action.

The technology had already drawn scrutiny, with reports confirming the deployment of AI-enabled facial recognition systems at Jantar Mantar.

The affidavit further defended the use of plainclothes “spotters” from the Special Branch, Special Cell, Crime Branch and local police, saying such personnel are routinely deployed at large public gatherings to identify troublemakers and respond quickly to violence.

The police has also cited its identification of 2,873 people through CCTV and facial-recognition analysis, saying many had criminal antecedents. Earlier reports said 989 of those identified were linked to serious offences.

The police maintained that any question over whether the force used was excessive can be examined by the committee proposed by the Supreme Court, and said it would cooperate with such an inquiry.