The manner in which the leader of opposition was removed from outside the residence of the prime minister, and the brutality with which young students, and those supporting them were lathi charged by the police, while they were taking out a peaceful march to Parliament is a blot on our democracy. It raises many a disturbing questions.Can the police resort to lathi charge, and mercilessly beat the agitators even when the march was peaceful? Have the citizens no legal right to protest peacefully in a democracy? Has the Supreme Court not recognised the right of citizens to peacefully assemble and protest? How was the police justified in using tear gas and physical force, causing grievous injuries to the protestors? What has the establishment achieved in resorting to uncalled for brutal force?It has only shown that their own elected govt, having sworn by the Constitution to act in a civilised manner, and within the prescribed boundaries, can dishonour the Constitution and its salutary principles. What is the role of judiciary in such a situation? Will it look the other way when there is a naked and brutal attack on peaceful marchers? Is it not time for those who are the custodian of the constitutional rights of the citizens to call a halt to uncalled for and totally beyond limits acts of violence? Is it not time to take action against the perpetrators of lawlessness in the name of law? Is it not time to civilise the uncivilised, and restore the rule of law?What wrong has the protestors done?What wrong has the protestors done? In the last two years, at least a dozen major examination papers reportedly got leaked, not to speak of over 150 in a decade. Things came to a boiling point when the national medical entrance examination question paper (2024 and 2026) got leaked, and at least 11 aspirants reportedly died by suicide. And yet, the state was unmoved. The education minister under whose watch leakage at such a massive scale has happened is refusing to step down. This, thus was the proverbial last straw which led to a dharna at Jantar Mantar. Who are these persons who are on the streets of New Delhi?They are young students. They are educated and are full of dreams. But to their misfortune, each time they strived towards the fulfillment of their dream, they found it shattered, not by their own doing but, on account of a system gone corrupt leaving them with a bleak, barren and ominous future. And when they decided to give voice to their pain and agony, and to awaken those who were refusing to wake up and share their pain by taking out a peaceful march, the authorities, instead of hearing them out, rained lathis on them breaking their limbs and sprayed tear gas shells at them, numbing their body parts.The treatment so meted out to them gave a message loud and clear. That those who are supposed to listen to them are deaf. That those who are supposed to apply balm on their wounds are actually bent upon inflicting more wounds. That those who are supposed to extend a helping hand are actually out to chop off those hands. Surely, they do not deserve this. They are not criminals. They are our future. Well educated, well read with dreams of a bright and secured future. What they need is gentle holding of hand and not an iron fist.When courts don’t provide balm to the wounds caused by brutal meansAnd what about our courts? They are not extending a helping hand either. They are not reminding the persons in power what the constitutional rights of a citizen are. They are not providing balm to the wounds caused by unconstitutional, rather brutal means. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that peaceful assembly and protest are Fundamental Rights that cannot be curtailed through arbitrary and excessive use of force. It is therefore the bounden duty of constitutional courts to act as independent arbiters when the state uses excessive power to quell a peaceful agitation.Given the scale of force used against the protestors, and that too in such a brutal manner, one expected the Supreme Court or the high court to take suo-motu cognisance of the matter. But not only did they not do that, they also did not take up the matter on an urgent basis even when PIL’s were filed in both the courts seeking their protection against illegal and excessive use of the force by the police.As a matter of fact, the Chief Justice of the Delhi high court is reported to have said “don’t drag the court into this controversy”. With the greatest of respect to the Chief Justice, the petitioner was not dragging the court into any controversy, but was only urging it to provide protection to the agitators against police excesses which is its constitutional duty.In this scenario, will it not be legitimate to ask, where does a citizen go for protection of his constitutional rights?Rekha Sharma is a former judge of the Delhi high court.